The present invention is directed to a system for cleaning conveyor belts, and particularly to a cleaning assembly for dual conveyor belt systems.
A conveyor system employing an endless belt may, over time, require cleaning of the belt surface. This is particularly true when the belt is used for conveying an article during processing of the article where portions of the article, in one form or another, are transformed. Such transformations may be accomplished by, for example, applying pressure or heat to the article being conveyed.
One form of such a conveying system employs two endless belts. Each belt traverses a separate belt travel path, with the two belt travel paths together defining an article transport path between opposed faces of the belts. The article being conveyed, upon entry into the article transport path, is simultaneously engaged by the opposed faces of the two belts as it moves along an article processing path. One specific example of such a process is a cooking process, where the article being conveyed is a food item which is cooked while simultaneously being conveyed by the conveyor belt system. In an article cooking application, heat may be applied to the article as it is conveyed by the two belts along the article transport path defined by the belts.
As the article is heated, fluids in the article may leave the article in liquid form (i.e., water or oils) or in gas form (i.e., steam or vapor). In addition, portions of the article may separate from the article during processing, causing debris to remain on the belt once the article has left the article transport path. As the endless belts operate over time to transport a plurality of articles, the build up of liquids and debris on the belts can become significant, affecting the performance of the belts in processing the article. In addition, the migration of fluids and/or debris into the operating equipment for the belts and other associated processing equipment can degrade the performance of such equipment. Therefore, it is desirable that any debris or excess liquids created on the belt during processing be removed from the belt in an efficient and expeditious manner.