Conveyor dishwasher

Abstract

A conveyor dishwasher includes at least one wash zone and at least one final rinse zone, wherein the at least one wash zone is designed to spray wash liquid, wherein the wash liquid is, at least proportionally, liquid which has already been used for final rinsing in the at least one final rinse zone and to which a wash chemical is added in a metered manner or is fresh water to which a wash chemical is added in a metered manner, wherein the conveyor dishwasher has a metering pump for adding the wash chemical in a metered manner to the liquid to be sprayed in the at least one wash zone, and wherein a controller is associated with the conveyor dishwasher in order to actuate the metering pump and a wash pump or final rinse pump of the dishwasher.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A conveyor dishwasher comprising:
 at least one wash zone and at least one final rinse zone,   wherein the at least one wash zone is designed to spray wash liquid, wherein the wash liquid is, at least proportionally, liquid which has already been used for final rinsing in the at least one final rinse zone and to which a wash chemical is added in a metered manner or is fresh water to which a wash chemical is added in a metered manner,   wherein the conveyor dishwasher has a metering pump for adding the wash chemical in a metered manner to the liquid to be sprayed in the at least one wash zone, and   wherein a controller is associated with the conveyor dishwasher in order to actuate both (i) the metering pump and (ii) a wash pump which is associated with the at least one wash zone and/or a final rinse pump which is associated with the at least one final rinse zone.   
     
     
         2 . The conveyor dishwasher as claimed in  claim 1 ,
 wherein a sensor system is further provided in order to detect a concentration of wash chemical in the wash liquid to be sprayed in the at least one wash zone, wherein the controller which is associated with the conveyor dishwasher is designed to actuate the metering pump depending on the detected concentration of wash chemical.   
     
     
         3 . The conveyor dishwasher as claimed in  claim 2 ,
 wherein the controller which is associated with the conveyor dishwasher is designed to set at least some of the parameters which characterize the treatment of washware in the at least one wash zone, and wherein the controller which is associated with the conveyor dishwasher is further designed to set the metering pump depending on at least one parameter which characterizes the treatment of washware in the at least one wash zone.   
     
     
         4 . The conveyor dishwasher as claimed in  claim 3 ,
 wherein the at least one parameter which characterizes the treatment of washware in the at least one wash zone is a conveying rate at which washware is conveyed through the at least one wash zone, a quantity of wash liquid which is sprayed in the at least one wash zone per unit time and/or a temperature of the wash liquid.   
     
     
         5 . The conveyor dishwasher as claimed in  claim 1 ,
 wherein the controller which is associated with the conveyor dishwasher is designed to correspondingly actuate the metering pump depending on a program cycle which is selected for treating the washware and/or depending on the type of washware to be treated and/or depending on a degree of soiling of the washware to be treated.   
     
     
         6 . The conveyor dishwasher as claimed in  claim 1 ,
 wherein the controller which is associated with the conveyor dishwasher is designed to actuate the metering pump in such a way that continuous basic metering in the wash liquid is performed over time.   
     
     
         7 . The conveyor dishwasher as claimed in  claim 1 ,
 wherein the controller which is associated with the conveyor dishwasher is designed to submit to the metering pump all commands which are necessary for adding the wash chemical in a metered manner and/or to detect and possibly correspondingly to evaluate all parameters which are necessary for defining a quantity of the wash chemical to be added in a metered manner per unit time and/or all parameters which are necessary for defining the time and/or the duration of an operation for adding the wash chemical in a metered manner.   
     
     
         8 . The conveyor dishwasher as claimed in  claim 1 ,
 wherein a data transmission system is provided in order to transmit to the metering pump control signals, which are required for controlling the metering pump, from the controller which is associated with the conveyor dishwasher.   
     
     
         9 . The conveyor dishwasher as claimed in  claim 1 ,
 wherein, in the at least one final rinse zone, final rinse liquid, which is made up of fresh water and possibly rinse aid which has been added in a metered manner or which is made up of liquid which has already been used for final rinsing and possibly rinse aid which has been added in a metered manner, is injected or sprayed, onto washware to be treated in the at least one final rinse zone, and wherein a metering pump which can be actuated by means of the controller which is associated with the conveyor dishwasher is provided in order to add rinse aid in a metered manner as necessary to the liquid to be distributed in the at least one final rinse zone.   
     
     
         10 . The conveyor dishwasher as claimed in  claim 9 ,
 wherein the controller which is associated with the conveyor dishwasher is designed to automatically set a quantity of final rinse liquid to be distributed in the at least one final rinse zone per unit time, specifically depending on a conveying rate at which washware is conveyed through the at least one final rinse zone, and/or depending on the type of washware transported through the at least one final rinse zone.   
     
     
         11 . The conveyor dishwasher as claimed in  claim 1 ,
 wherein a washware detector apparatus is provided, which washware detector apparatus is designed to detect the type of washware to be treated, and wherein the controller which is associated with the conveyor dishwasher is designed to automatically set a quantity of wash liquid injected in the at least one wash zone per unit time and/or to automatically set a quantity of final rinse liquid injected in the at least one final rinse zone per unit time depending on the detected type of washware to be treated.   
     
     
         12 . The conveyor dishwasher as claimed in  claim 11 ,
 wherein the controller is designed to automatically set the conveying rate at which the washware is conveyed through the at least one wash zone and final rinse zone depending on the detected type of washware to be treated.   
     
     
         13 . The conveyor dishwasher as claimed in  claim 12 ,
 wherein the washware detector apparatus has at least one optically operating detector device and/or at least one inductively or capacitively operating detector device and is designed to automatically identify glasses or racks for glasses and/or to automatically identify cutlery or racks for cutlery.   
     
     
         14 . The conveyor dishwasher as claimed in  claim 1 ,
 wherein the wash pump which is associated with the at least one wash zone is preferably a rotation speed-controlled pump, and/or wherein the final rinse pump which is associated with the at least one final rinse zone is preferably a rotation speed-controlled pump.   
     
     
         15 . A method for operating a conveyor dishwasher as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein, with the aid of a controller which is associated with the conveyor dishwasher, at least some of the parameters which characterize the treatment of washware in at least one wash zone of the conveyor dishwasher are set, and wherein furthermore a metering pump for metering a wash chemical into the liquid to be sprayed in the at least one wash zone as desired is actuated with the aid of the controller which is associated with the conveyor dishwasher, specifically particularly depending on at least one parameter which characterizes the treatment of washware in the at least one wash zone.