Fluent material handling – with receiver or receiver coacting mea – With soil removing – coating – lubricating – sterilizing and/or... – With cleaning – coating or drying means
Patent
1994-11-23
1997-06-03
Jacyna, J. Casimer
Fluent material handling, with receiver or receiver coacting mea
With soil removing, coating, lubricating, sterilizing and/or...
With cleaning, coating or drying means
141196, 141 4, 141 83, 141 95, 134113, 137241, 422 26, 422119, B08B 900
Patent
active
056345011
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the disinfection of containers, and in particular, but not exclusively, to the steam disinfection of beer kegs in a kegging plant.
In a brewery, kegs are usually filled with beer using a piece of equipment commonly called a washer/racker. Empty kegs are positioned successively at one end of the washer/racker and pass sequentially through a series of stations or cycles where different operations are performed on the kegs. Typically the kegs pass through a number of cleaning treatments and a steam disinfection cycle before they are filled. The disinfection of the keg is of paramount importance in maintaining hygiene in the filling procedure and maintaining product quality. Disinfection is required to destroy any spoiling organisms which may remain in the keg from its previous usage and is most commonly effected using steam. High temperature, saturated steam is introduced into the keg for a given period of time to effect the disinfection.
Up to now verification of sterility has been effected by introducing a sterile solution into a keg after it is put through the washing and disinfecting cycle and retrieving the solution from the keg. The solution is then analyzed in a laboratory to detect the presence of any viable spoiling organism or other microbiological contaminants. This process is both time consuming and expensive because it requires the use of skilled personnel. Moreover it is not entirely satisfactory because the sterile solution can become contaminated by external organisms or impurities from the air. Results of the tests may take several days to process, in which time many hundreds or thousands of kegs will have been processed. There thus is a need for a method and means by which disinfection conditions inside a keg can be quickly and reliably verified.
In steam disinfection, the sanitizing effect is due to the release of latent heat on the condensing of the steam to water on the surfaces of the keg. Steam at around 100.degree. C. can provide approximately 6 times more total heat than water at approximately the same temperature. It is found that the disinfection is most effective using steam which is at or very close to the phase boundary. At temperatures below the phase boundary temperature the steam is already condensed and will not release latent heat on the surfaces of the keg, while at temperatures significantly in excess of the phase boundary the steam is super-heated and behaves like dry heat. Dry heat requires higher temperatures and longer contact times to sanitize compared to moist heat. The temperature at which the phase boundary between water and steam occurs is itself dependent on the pressure within the keg (FIG. 4). Accordingly for optimum disinfection, we have found that the steam temperature within the keg should be at or slightly above the phase boundary temperature appropriate for the pressure within the keg and that these conditions should be maintained for a given period of time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
From a first aspect the invention provides a method of monitoring steam conditions in a container during disinfection comprising the steps of: the container during disinfection; means; temperature and pressure values correspond to desired steam conditions within the container, such conditions being at or within a predetermined tolerance from the phase boundary between steam and water; and conditions are or have been met for measured pairs of temperature and pressure values, preferably for each successively measured pair.
From a second aspect the invention provides apparatus for monitoring the steam conditions in a container during disinfection comprising: during disinfection; processing means, said processing means establishing automatically whether the measured temperature and pressure values correspond to desired steam conditions within the container, such conditions being at or within a predetermined tolerance from the phase boundary between steam and water; and conditions are or have been met for measured pairs of
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A. G. (Patents) Limited
Baxley Esq. Charles E.
Jacyna J. Casimer
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