Refrigeration – With cleaning means for apparatus
Patent
1994-04-01
1995-09-05
Capossela, Ronald C.
Refrigeration
With cleaning means for apparatus
62 57, 62380, F28G 100
Patent
active
054470404
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
I. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an air treatment plant for foodstuffs, comprising a housing, an elongate trough provided therein for receiving the foodstuff to be treated, a heat exchanger and a fan assembly for producing an air flow circulating through the heat exchanger, up through the trough and back to the heat exchanger, the bottom of the trough comprising a foraminated conveyor belt.
The invention relates more specifically to a freezing plant, but is also applicable to other air treatment plants, e.g. for cooling, drying and heating. In the freezing plant, the heat exchanger is a cooling-coil battery.
II. Prior Art
In known freezing plants of this type, problems are often met with in that foodstuff particles, or accompanying water, freeze on to the top side of the belt and build up a layer of ice thereon. This ice layer will of course adversely affect the air flow through the conveyor belt and, hence, the agitation or fluidisation of the foodstuff particles in the trough. As a result, the operation of the freezing plant must be stopped more frequently than desirable.
Similar problems of layers of foodstuff or other matter building up on the conveyor belt may also arise in other air treatment plants for foodstuffs.
OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to overcome or at least substantially reduce the build-up of such layers on the conveyor belt.
According to the invention, this object is achieved in that the conveyor belt is driven by a motor provided with a control unit for at least periodically driving the conveyor belt in a direction opposite to a throughfeed direction of the foodstuff in the trough.
In the case of a freezing plant, foodstuff particles freeze on to the top side of the belt primarily on the location in the trough where the foodstuff particles are supplied, i.e. in the conveyor belt adjacent the infeed opening. With the inventive arrangement, it is thus possible to readily prevent the build-up of material on the belt, which is achieved more specifically in that the belt, by being driven in a direction opposite to the throughfeed direction of the foodstuff in the trough, is at least periodically moved out into the area before the front end of the trough, where it can be easily relieved of any layer of material that may have built up on it. The control unit may be arranged for periodically driving the belt in opposite directions about a fixed position, i.e. the belt then behaves in almost the same way as a trough which has a fixed bottom, the trough being oscillated in its longitudinal direction. This produces the additional effect which is achieved with such an oscillating trough, i.e. intensified agitation or fluidisation.
Alternatively, the control unit may be arranged for periodically driving the belt in opposite directions with a net motion in the throughfeed direction of the foodstuff in the trough. Thus, the belt contributes to the feed of foodstuffs through the trough.
The most effective removal of layers built up on the conveyor belt is however achieved in that the control unit is arranged for continuously driving the conveyor belt in a direction opposite to the throughfeed direction of the foodstuff in the trough.
In all the cases, the arrangement has a device for removing on the infeed side of the trough layers of material which have built up on the conveyor belt, especially for deicing.
The motor used in the air treatment plant is advantageously a stepping motor.
The bottom of the trough may comprise a fixed, foraminated plate disposed underneath the conveyor belt. Suitably, the bottom of the trough however consists only of a foraminated conveyor belt. In a preferred embodiment, this consists of plates which are articulated to each other and have perforations over their entire surface in the form of through holes, as well as through slots at their portions of articulation.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention, as specifically applied to air treat
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Capossela Ronald C.
Frigoscandia Equipment Aktiebolag
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