Refrigeration – Liquid contacting discrete commodity – With article conveyer or transporter
Patent
1987-11-02
1989-07-04
Tapolcai, William E.
Refrigeration
Liquid contacting discrete commodity
With article conveyer or transporter
62 64, 62380, F75D 1702
Patent
active
048438405
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to freezing apparatus and processes, in particular to the conversion into a solid particulate product of such materials as dairy produce (cream, milk, yoghurt), liquid egg, soups, pharmaceuticals, microbiological cultures, blood and blood components, proteins and plastics.
Various prior proposals have been made for methods of freezing dairy products into discrete particulate form. U.K. patent specification No. 1,264,439 describes direct contact of egg or dairy produce with a liquefied gas refrigerant to give pop-corn-like particles. U.K. patent specification 1,376,972 from the same patentees describes a small scale system (5 lb/hr per injection nozzle) for production of pellets of egg by causing the egg to fall from nozzles into liquefied gas refrigerant.
U.K. patent specification No. 2,092,880 discloses a method and apparatus for producing buoyant frozen pellets of liquid, preferably cream, by causing drops of liquid to fall onto or into a liquefied gas. U.K. patent specification No. 2,117,222 discloses a method and apparatus for producing discrete bodies of frozen liquid, e.g. cream, by passing a pulsating flow of the liquid into or onto a stream of liquefied gas. The present invention relates to an improved version of such systems in which the improvements provide for larger scale commercial operations and improved economics.
According to the invention there is provided apparatus for producing solidified particles from a liquid feedstock by direct contact with a refrigerant liquid, which apparatus comprises at least one channeled conduit to convey regrigerant liquid, supply means to convey a flow of liquid feedstock through one or more injection nozzles to the or each channeled conduit, separation means to recover solidified product from the refrigerant liquid and recirculation means for separated refrigerant liquid, wherein the or each channeled conduit comprises one or more contact channels in which the liquid feedstock flows together with refrigerant liquid and one or more cooling channels in which recirculated refrigerant liquid flows in heat exchange with at least one contact channel.
The choice of refrigerant liquid is mainly determined by the type and melting point of the material to be solidified, and it must usually be immiscible with this material. For milk and other dairy products, liquid egg, microbiological cultures and blood components, the liquid refrigerant is preferably liquid nitrogen.
I have discovered that a smooth, non-turbulent flow of refrigerant liquid along the feedstock/refrigerant contact channels is important in order to give uniformity in and control over both the size of product particle and the extent to which the particles are cooled. Several features associated with the channeled conduit enhance this uniformity and control. The first requirement is to minimise evaporation of refrigerant in the contact channels. This is achieved by the arrangement of contact channels and refrigerant channels which ensures that refrigerant channels act as a cooling jacket for the contact channels. It is desirable to keep the walls between the channels and any refrigerant liquid in the contact channels at a substantially constant temperature. If the refrigerant liquid is near its boiling point the temperature along the length of the conduit remains substantially constant because of heat withdrawn from the contact channels by the latent heat of evaporation of liquid in the cooling channels.
The configuration of channels within the channeled conduit is preferably such that recirculated refrigerant liquid flows in one direction along a cooling channel and then in a countercurrent direction along a contact channel.
In a preferred configuration of the apparatus the channeled conduits slope upwards toward the point at which liquid feedstock is introduced, such that feedstock and refrigerant liquid flow under gravity along the contact channel towards the separation means. In this configuration it is preferred to include an adjustable support at the upper end of the conduit s
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patent: 4073158 (1978-02-01), Guiller
patent: 4655047 (1987-04-01), Temple et al.
BOC Limited
Tapolcai William E.
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