Patent
1983-03-01
1985-05-21
Abercrombie, Willie G.
17 46, A22C 2902
Patent
active
045177074
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to technologies of processing food obtained from sea catches, and more particularly it relates to apparatus for recovering meat of small crustaceans, of antarctic krill, in particular.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Krill has become nowadays one of the most promising large scale sources of protein of animal origin. High-quality protein is contained in krill meat, while other components of krill either have a limited value as a food or are altogether inedible and utilizable solely for technological purposes. Therefore, the development of an industrial technology of processing krill into food involves the necessity of finding efficient techniques and plant for recovering krill meat and separating it from other components.
There is known an apparatus for removing the shells of small crustaceans, particularly, of antarctic krill, comprising a loading mechanism, an air duct, a connection for feeding compressed air and a shell breaking-up mechanism wherein the air duct includes a series connection of a bell mouth or funnel, a plain-wall curving pipe, a spring and a diffuser (cf. U.S. Pat. No. 4,251,902 dated Feb. 24, 1981).
This apparatus provides for processing small crustaceans over the entire range of their sizes and offers reliable and highly efficient performance.
However, this apparatus, while breaking-up the shell and other components of krill, performs but partial separation of the meat from other components. Therefore, to complete the recovery of the meat, it is necessary to resort to conventional techniques, e.g. to that of flotation, which incurs significant waste of the meat and also its saturation with magnesium and calcium salts when sea water is used, on account of prolonged contact of the meat with water.
There is further known an apparatus for recovering meat of small crustaceans, comprising a mechanism for breaking-up the shell of crustaceans, including a loading device and a breaking-up chamber with a connection for feeding-in the working agent and an outlet pipe provided with a diffuser, and a mechanism for separating the meat from other components of crustaceans (cf. U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,492 dated Dec. 29, 1981). The mechanism for separating the meat from other components of crustaceans includes a vertical working chamber filled with a liquid and a loading funnel receiving therein the diffuser of the shell breaking-up mechanism. The upper part of the working chamber is flaring outwardly and has an overflow pipe and a pipe connecting it with the loading funnel. The central part of the vertical chamber accommodates a connection for feeding-in the working liquid, while its bottom part is connected with an overflow line with a liquid-type ejector mounted at its inlet. The upper end of the overflow line is situated above the top level of the liquid in the vertical working chamber. The separation of the meat from other components of krill fed from the diffuser into the loading funnel and therefrom into the vertical chamber takes place as the outcome of the creation in the chamber of an ascending flow of the liquid. The rate of this flow is selected so that the meat should fall out or sink in the chamber, to be carried away from its bottom part via the overflow line, while the rest of the components are carried up by the ascending flow of the liquid into the upper part of the chamber, to be removed therefrom via the overflow pipe. This apparatus has been found not only to break-up efficiently the shells and other inedible components of krill, but also to separate the meat efficiently from other components. In its operation, the time of contact with the working fluid does not exceed two minutes, which provides for a fine quality of the meat produced.
However, prolonged experience of operating the apparatus under real production conditions, including operating it aboard sea-borne vessels, has brought to light its following short-comings. A considerable part of the components of krill has in many cases positive buoyancy. When getting into the loading funne
REFERENCES:
patent: 2608716 (1952-09-01), Harris
patent: 3408686 (1968-11-01), Stephenson
patent: 4307492 (1981-12-01), Braginsky et al.
Braginsky Yakov I.
Gultsev Igor V.
Mitrofanov Viktor A.
Nikitushkin Nikolai A.
Yaroshenko Yury F.
Abercrombie Willie G.
Vsesojuzny Nauchno-Issledovatelsky I Exerimentalno-Konstruktorsk
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