Warewasher with air assisted washing and/or rinsing

Abstract

A warewash machine carries out at least one of (i) delivering both compressed air and rinse liquid to a plurality of wash spray nozzles of the warewash machine for spraying onto the wares during at least part of a washing operation of a ware cleaning cycle, wherein the wash liquid is recirculated from a wash tank below the spray zone; or (ii) lowering wares from the spray zone into a wash tank below the spray zone to submerge the wares within wash liquid of the wash tank and delivering compressed air into the wash tank during at least part of a washing operation of a ware cleaning cycle; or (iii) delivering both compressed air and rinse liquid to a plurality of rinse spray nozzles of the warewash machine for spraying onto the wares during at least part of a rinsing operation of a ware cleaning cycle.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A warewash machine for cleaning wares, comprising:
 a chamber for receiving wares, the chamber having at least one spray zone;   a rinse system associated with the spray zone and including one or more spray nozzles and a feed system connected to the spray nozzles, wherein the feed system includes both a rinse liquid line and a compressed air line.   
     
     
         2 . The warewash machine of  claim 1 , wherein the feed system is operable to feed a combination of the rinse liquid and the compressed air to the spray nozzles during at least part of a rinsing operation carried during a ware cleaning cycle. 
     
     
         3 . The warewash machine of  claim 2  wherein a ratio of rinse liquid flow to compressed air flow that is fed to the spray nozzles is variable by adjustment of one or more flow control devices. 
     
     
         4 . The warewash machine of  claim 1  wherein the feed system includes a first flow control device for selectively controlling flow of rinse liquid from the rinse liquid line to the spray nozzles and a second flow control device for selectively controlling flow of compressed air from the compressed air line to the spray nozzles, and a controller operatively connected to control both the first flow control device and the second flow control device, the controller configured to control the first flow control device and the second flow control device so as to feed a combination of the rinse liquid and the compressed air to the spray nozzles during at least part of a rinsing operation of a ware cleaning cycle. 
     
     
         5 . The warewash machine of  claim 3  wherein the first flow control device comprises a first valve and the second flow control device comprises a second valve. 
     
     
         6 . The warewash machine of  claim 4  wherein the controller is configured to control the first flow control device and the second flow control device to feed only compressed air to the spray nozzles during a ware drying step of the ware cleaning cycle. 
     
     
         7 . The warewash machine of  claim 4  wherein the controller is configured to control the first flow control device and the second flow control device to feed only rinse liquid to the spray nozzles during at least part of the rinsing operation. 
     
     
         8 . The warewash machine of  claim 1  wherein the chamber includes a wash tank below the spray zone, and a mechanism from moving wares from the spray zone down into the wash tank for a washing operation and back up to the spray zone for a rinsing operation. 
     
     
         9 . The warewash machine of  claim 8  wherein the wash tank holds wash liquid in which the wares are submerged during the washing operation, and the compressed air line is selectively connectable to deliver compressed air into the wash liquid during at least part of the washing operation. 
     
     
         10 . The warewash machine of  claim 1  wherein the chamber includes a wash tank and an associated recirculation system for recirculating wash liquid from the wash tank for spraying the wash liquid in the spray zone onto wares during a washing operation, wherein the compressed air line is selectively connectable to the recirculation system for delivering a combined spray of wash liquid and compressed air onto the wares during the washing operation. 
     
     
         11 . A warewash machine for cleaning wares, comprising:
 a chamber for receiving wares, the chamber having at least one spray zone;   wherein the chamber includes a wash tank below the spray zone and at least one of:
 (i) a mechanism from moving wares from the spray zone down into the wash tank for a washing operation and back up to the spray zone for a rinsing operation, wherein the wash tank holds wash liquid in which the wares are submerged during the washing operation, and a compressed air line is connected to deliver compressed air into the wash liquid during at least part of the washing operation; 
 or 
 (ii) a recirculation system for recirculating wash liquid from the wash tank to spray nozzles of the spray zone for spraying the wash liquid onto wares during a washing operation, and a compressed air line is connected to the recirculation system to deliver a combined spray of wash liquid and compressed air from the spray nozzles onto the wares during the washing operation. 
   
     
     
         12 . The warewash machine of  claim 11 , wherein the compressed air line is selectively connectable to one or more rinse spray nozzles of the warewash machine such that a combined spray of rinse liquid and compressed air is delivered to the rinse spray nozzles during at least part of a rinsing operation of a ware cleaning cycle. 
     
     
         13 . A method of cleaning wares in a warewash machine that includes a chamber for receiving wares, the chamber having at least one spray zone, the method comprising:
 carrying out at least one of the following steps:
 (i) delivering both compressed air and rinse liquid to a plurality of wash spray nozzles of the warewash machine and spraying a combination of the compressed air and the wash liquid from the rinse spray nozzle onto the wares during at least part of a washing operation of a ware cleaning cycle, wherein the wash liquid is recirculated from a wash tank below the spray zone; 
 or 
 (ii) lowering wares from the spray zone into a wash tank below the spray zone to submerge the wares within wash liquid of the wash tank and delivering compressed air into the wash tank during at least part of a washing operation of a ware cleaning cycle, and thereafter raising the wares back up into the spray zone for a rinsing operation; 
 or 
 (iii) delivering both compressed air and rinse liquid to a plurality of rinse spray nozzles of the warewash machine and spraying a combination of the compressed air and the rinse liquid from the rinse spray nozzle onto the wares during at least part of a rinsing operation of a ware cleaning cycle. 
   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  wherein both steps (i) and (iii) are carried out during a common ware cleaning cycle. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13  wherein both steps (ii) and (iii) are carried out during a common ware cleaning cycle.