AU3681897A - Saline ice producing method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

48009 GEH:PFB P/00!011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD

PATENT

ORIGINAL

Name of Applicant: TOP COMPANY SName of inventor: HIROAKI KUROIWA Address for Service: COLLISON CO., 117 King William Street, Adelaide, S.A. 5000 Invention Title: SALINE ICE PRODUCING METHOD AND APPARATUS The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: *i it RAK •IW Adrs fo Sevie .t SI 5,5 I7 97 Aim- 2 SALINE ICE PRODUCING METHOD AND APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for producing saline ice for use in preserving marine animals at a low temperature without impairing their freshness.

2. Description of the Related Art *The saline ice produced in accordance with the present invention would not bring about any ice singe even if it comes into a direct contact with 10 colored fish such as sea breams and flukes, mackerels, horse mackerels, sardines, squids, etc., thus eliminating a need to provide for preservation any special measures against change of color due to ice singe.

General use is made of ice in order to preserve marine animals in a cooled state. However, the ice may subject colored fish such as sea breams and flukes, mackerels, horse mackerels, sardines, squids, etc., to ice singe and therefore change in color if it comes into a direct contact with them. Therefore, as measures against change in color, plastic films S* are interposed therebetween to prevent the ice from coming into a direct contact with them. However, such a solution is not suitable for maintaining the marine animals under highly fresh conditions.

It is we!l known to utilize cold seawater to keep the marine animals highly fresh. Seawater is utilized to present conditions approximating to environments in which the marine animals reside, to thereby maintain constant the balance of concentration between the outside and inside of the bodies of the sea animals. In this method as well, however, ice is mixed in the sea water to maintain its lc"' tmperature and hence in the course of time the ice would melt int,' water to reduce the concentration thereof. It would thus b. jifficult to keep the marine animals highly fresh on a long term basis. In addition, since the i

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3 seawater contains plankton. miscellaneous germs, etc.. use of seawater would not be preferred from sanitary viewpoint.

For this reason, saline ice, if any. would be preferred which even after the dissolution, can maintain the saline concentration constant to prevent ice singe while simultaneously keeping lowered temperature. It was however said that it would be substantially impossible to produce saline ice due to the fact that the saline and water tend to separate from each other in the process of ice making owing to a difference in freezing point between water and saline, a difference in specific gravity therebetween, etc.

Nevertheless, endeavours to produce saline ice have been made with proposals of a variety of apparatuses used therefor. However, the thus proposed apparatuses have eventually failed in producing true saline ice -'*since they merely form an outer salt containing ice layer surrounding a granular fresh water ice core or merely make flake-like ice through press Sforming in order to increase the'size of the granules.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION :i It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a novel o method and apparatus for producing saline ice, the method being essentially different from the conventional production method executed by use of the conventional saline ice producing apparatus, the inventive method and apparatus being capable of preventing water and saline from separating from each other in the process of ice making, and capable of optional!y control the concentration of salt to be contained in saline ice.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, there is provided a method of producing saline ice comprising the steps of mixing ozone generated by an ozonizer with water to create a water having a high oxygen content; stirring up and mixing together the resultant high oxygen content water and salt added thereto to obtain a concentrated saline in which the water and salt are not allowed to separate from each other; mixing the concentrated saline with the high oxygen content water in an

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appropriate proportion and stirring them up to controllably obtain a saline having a desired concentration: and delivering the saline having a desired concentration to ice making means through which the saline is made into flake-like or granular saline ice.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for producing saline ice comprising an ozonizer: an ozone mixer for mixing ozone generated by the ozonizer with water: a water storage vessel for storing therein water having a high oxygen content generated by the ozone mixer; a corrosion-resistant stirring vessel for stirring up and mixing together part of the high oxygen content water and salt added thereto to create a concentrated saline; 1 a saline concentration control vessel for mixing the concentrated saline in the stirring vessel with the high oxygen content water in the water storage vessel in an appropriate proportion and stirring them up to controllably obtain a saline having a desired concentration; ice making means for rapidly cooling down the saline fed from the control vessel to make flake-like or granular saline ice; S 20 an ice storage compartment for storing therein the saline ice made by the ice making means; and a refrigerating machine for-supplying the ice making machine and the ice storage compartment with a refrigerant.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above and other objects, aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus by means of which is carried out the method of producing saline ice in accordance with the present invention; and Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the saline ice producing apparatus embodying the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS r.

An embodiment of the present invention wiil now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig- 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus by means of which is carried out a method of producing a saline ice in accordance with the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of an example of the apparatus for producing saline ice of the present invention illustrated in Fig. 1.

Referring to Fig. 1, the saline ice producing apparatus comprises a storage vessel which is generally designated at 1 and includes a water storage section 1A and a saline concentration control section 1 B which are partitioned by an internal partition wall 2. For safety purposes, arrangement is such that water or saline is allowed to flow over the partition wall 2 into the water storage section 1A or saline concentration control vessel 1 B, respectively. It is to be appreciated that the water 9 storage section 1A and the saline concentration control vessel 1B may be formed from completely separate storage tanks.

S" The storage vessel further includes a water supply valve 3 by means of which a fresh water such as tap water is supplied into the water storage section 1A, a water level control float 3A for controlling the amount of ,"water to be supplied into water storage section 1A through the water supply valve 3, a water discharge valve 4 for the water storage section 1 A, and a water gauge The saline ice producing apparatus further comprises an ozone mixer for mixing ozone generated by an ozonizer 7 into water from the water storage section 1A to allow the ozone to be confined within the water, a pump 8 for circulating the water, a ceramic-filled container 9 functioning as a filter. When the water fed from the water storage section 1 A is mixed with ozone in the ozone mixer 6, ozone molecules (03) are immediately decomposed into oxygen molecules (02) and oxygen atoms due to their extremely unstable properties. The resultant oxygen atoms tend to be bonded with one another into oxygen molecules (02) or to be bonded with other atoms or act positively on the other substances, thus reducing the amount of residual chlorine contained in tap water, providing a deodorizing effect as well as serving to kill colon bacilli or other bacteria.

.i i 6 The oxygen molecules (02) on the other hand are stable. and therefore when passing through ceramic-filled layers within the ceramic-filled container 9. they are allowed to dissolve in the smallest molecules of clusters, aggregates of water. Thus, the water exiting the ozone mixer 6 results in a high-oxygen-content water (active water) containing 16 ppm of oxygen (02) twice as much as the ordinary water does. Since in addition it has already been subjected to a sterilizing process or the like, it would be a material suitable to produce ice. At the time when the water temperature approaches 4GC and oxygen molecules (02) of 16 ppm or 1 0 more have dissolved in the water, most chlorine molecules (C12) disappear, resulting in an odorless water. It would also be apparent from this point of view that it is favourable to the material for producing ice.

o Incidentally, by repeatedly passing the tap water through the ceramicfilled layers any number of times under a certain pressure, the water clusters can be further reduced ip size, so that characteristics of the ceramics is transferred to the water to allow far infrared rays effect to be *taken in the water. When drunk, the thus obtained water is warmed in the body to issue feeble far infrared rays, which directly imparts a vitality to cells of a human body, in the same manner as the doubly dissolved oxygen molecules do. It is to be especially noted that by virtue of electromagnetic waves emitted from the ceramics the tap water of the order of pH 6.5 results in weak alkali ion water of pH 7.3.

S° The saline ice producing apparatus further comprises a valve 10 serving to stop a circulation of the water in which ozone has been confined by the ozone mixer 6 to the water storage section 1A, a valve 11 by means of which water is permitted to flow into the saline concentration control vessel 1 B, the valves 10 and 11 serving in cooperation to control the water flow-in and flow-out directions, a flowmeter 12 for measuring the flow rate of water flowing into the saline concentration control vessel 1 B, a water level gauge 13 associated with the saline concentration control vessel 1 B, a drain valve 14, and a stirring circulation pump 15 for s.irring and mixing the interior of the saline concentration control vessel 1 B.

The saline ice producing apparatus further comprises a stirring vessel 16 into which part of ozone confined water generated by the ozone mixer 7 flows (no in-flow path is illustrated) and in which salt is added and stirred 7 for mixing with the water to prevent the water and salt from separating from each other to prepare a concentrated saline, a motor 17 for stirring vanes 17a serving to rotate the stirring vanes 17a within the stirring vessel 16, a float switch 18, and a metering pump 19 for delivering the concentrated saline generated in the stirring vessel 16 to the saline concentration control vessel 1 B.

Although the concentration of the concentrated saline prepared in the stirring vessel 16 can be appropriately controlled, 25% of concentrated saline is prepared herein and is constantly stirred up by the stirring vanes 17a so as to prevent the water and saline from separating from each other. The 25,0 of the concentrated saline is merely an example, and the concentration can be within a range of 25% plus or minus It is to be noted that the liquid contact parts such as the inner wall surfaces ooeoo S"of the stirring vessel 16 and the stirring vanes 19a, which come into S 15 direct contact with the concentrated saline, are formed from a material :having high anti-corrosion properties, for example, a titanium material, or Soa synthetic resin including a high anti-corrosive fluorine plastic, silicone resin, etc. Alternatively,,the liquid contact parts may be coated with a high corrosion resistant paint.

20 Thus, in the saline ice producing apparatus of the present invention, a predetermined amount of 25% concentrated saline prepared in the stirring vessel 16 is delivered by the metering pump 19 to the saline concentration control vessel 1B of the storage vessel 1 and then is stirred up and mixed by the stirring circulation pump 15 with high oxygen content water stored within the saline concentration control vessel I B, to obtain a saline of 2 to 3.5% in concentration.

The thus controlled 2 to 3.5% saline is fed by a pump 20 to an ice making machine 21 in which the saline is made into flake-like or granular saline ice. Although in this embodiment saline which has not been made into ice, of the saline fed to the ice making machine 21 is returned via a return pipe P to the saline concentration control vessel 1 B, it may be diverged into the stirring vessel 16.

Since the saline which has not been mrnade into ice is cooled down within the ice making machine 21, the temperature of the liquid within the saline 8 concentration control vessel 1B can be maintained at 4 to 10 C even in summer. Thus. it is possible to feed saline at a low temperature to the ice making machine 21. to contribute to an enhanced ice making capability of the ice making machine 21.

The saline ice producing apparatus further comprises an ice storage compartment 22 for storing saline ice made by the ice making machine.

and a refrigerating machine 23 for circulatively supply a refrigerant carrier to both ine ice making machine 20 and the ice storage compartment 22. In order to prevent a dissolution of the saline ice within the ice storage compartment 22, the interior of the compartment is kept at a temperature of the order of minus Reference is now made to Fig. 2 to explain a specific construction of the saline ice producing apparatus embodying the present invention described in connection to Fig. 1.

15 As is apparent from Fig. 2, the saline ice producing apparatus comprises a unit A for producing a saline from an active water and supplying it, which includes all of the storage vessel to the pump designated respectively at 1 to 20 in Fig. 2, an ice making machine B designated at 21 in Fig. 1, an ice storage compartment C designated at 22 in Fig. 1, and refrigerating machines designated at 23 in Fig. 1 and consists of an ice storing refrigerator D for cooling down the interior of the ice storage compartment C and an ice making refrigerator E for supplying a refrigerant carrier to the ice making machine B.

The ice making machine B is intended to rotationally splay a saline onto the inner metallic wall surface which has been cooled down by the circulating refrigerant carrier and to scrape saline ice formed on the inner metallic wall surface by means of a scraper to accommodate the thus scraped ice into the ice storage compartment C. The ice making machine B comprises a heat insulator 31 constituting the outer periphery of the ice making machine B, a metallic plate 32 disposed inside the heat insulator 31 with a refrigerant carrier supply tube 33 intervening therebetween, a hollow rotary shaft 34 for spraying the metallic wall surface with saline supplied from the saline producing and supplying unit A: a saline spray tube 35 located at the upper part of the rotary shaft 34, and a scraper 36 attached to the rotary shaft 34 in a branch-like manner.

In the ice makino machine B, a centrifugal force arising from the rotation of the rotary shaft 34 is used to spray through the saline spray tube 35 a refrigerated active water based saline supplied from the saline producing and supplying unit A the unit A, onto the inner surface of the metallic plate 32 which has been cooled down to minus 30'C to minus 50'C by a refrigerant carrier supplied from the ice making refrigerator E and circulating within the refrigerant carrier supply tube 33, to thereby deposit a thin layer of saline ice 37 on the inner surface of the metallic plate 32, and the thus deposited thin saline ice layer 37 is scraped from the inner surface of the metallic plate 32 by means of the tip of the scraper 36.

Although in this case the rotational speed of the rotary shaft 34 is .o 15 approximately one revolution per ten minutes, it may be appropriately varied depending on circumstances.

The thin saline ice pieces 37 scraped by the tip of the scraper 36 are in the form of flakes or granules, and drop as they are and collect for storage in the ice storage compartment C as indicated by dotted lines S.

The temperature of the saline ice 37 is of the order of minus 4 C, but it 20 can be maintained at about 6°C because the contained oxygen molecules will deprive the saline ice of a heat when released. It is to be noted that in order to prevent the dissolution of the saline ice 37 the interior of the ice storage compartment C is kept at a temperature of the order of minus 20°C with the aid of the ice storing refrigerator D. Saline ice which has not been made into ice is returned to the saline producing and supplying unit A. By virtue of this saline ice which has already fully been cooled down within the ice making machine B, the contents of the saline producing and supplying unit A can be maintained at a low temperature (about The ice storage compartment C comprises a door 38 serving as a saline ice 37 take-out port.

As discussed hereinabove, the saline ice producing apparatus of the present invention is able to produce saline ice in accordance with purely different procedures from the conventional saline ice producing method, by means of which there can be produced flake-like or granular saline

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ice pieces each having a salt-containing-core instead of the conventional saline ice in which saline is merely adhered to the core of fresh water ice.

The saline ice produced in accordance with the present method has iittle difference in salt concentration between its core and outer portion, so that for instance saline ice whose salt concentration has been controlled nearly to that of seawater could be able to maintain the condition closer to that of the seawater even when it has melted, thus enabling marine animals to be maintained in a highly fresh state.

Although it depends on the salt concentration of the saline ice and on the circumstances of use, the use of the saline ice produced in accordance with the present invention will ensure that the state at minus 4'C to minus is maintained for a long period of time, so that the amount of use will reduced to a third or a half of that of the ordinary fresh water ice.

it is to be appreciated that ver temperature of this saline ice wouldattribute to a lower freezing poiu, n that of the ordinary fresh water ice and to oxygen which deprives the saline ice of a latent heat when it exits the saline ice, thereby lowering the temperature in surface of the ice.

The saline ice produced in accordance with the present invention would not bring about any ice singe even if it comes into a direct contact with 20 colored fish such as sea breams and flukes, mackerels, horse mackere!s, sardines, squids, etc., thus eliminating a need to provide for preservation any special measures against change of color due to ice singe.

While particular embodiment of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it would be obvious to those skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention which is defined in the following claims.

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Claims (6)

1. A method of producing saline ice comprising the steps of: mixing ozone generated by an ozonizer with water to create a water having a high oxygen content; stirring up and mixing together the resultant high oxygen content water and salt added thereto to obtain a concentrated saline in which the water and salt are not allowed to separate from each other; mixing said concentrated saline with said high oxygen content water in an appropriate proportion and stirring them up to controllably obtain a saline having a desired concentration; and delivering said saline having a desired concentration to ice making means through which said saline is made into flake-like or granular saline ice.

2. An apparatus for producing saline ice comprising: an ozonizer; an ozone mixer for mixing ozone generated by said ozonizer with water; a water storage vessel for storing therein water having a high oxygen content generated by said ozone mixer; a corrosion-resistant stirring vessel for stirring up and mixing together 20 part of said high oxygen content water and salt added thereto to create a concentrated saline; a saline concentration control vessel in which said concentrated saline within said stirring vessel is mixed with said high oxygen content water within said water storage vessel in an appropriate proportion and stirred up to controllably obtain a saline having a desired concentration; ice making means for rapidly cooling down said saline fed from said control vessel to make flake-like or granular saline ice; an ice storage compartment for storing therein said saline ice made by said ice making means; and a refrigerating machine for supplying said ice making machine and said ice storage compartment with a refrigerant.

3. An apparatus for producing saline ice according to claim 2. further comprising: a metering pump by means of which said concentrated saline is 12 delivered from said stirring vessel to said saline concentration control vessel.

4. An apparatus for producing saline ice according to claim 2 or 3, wherein: said ice making means supplies saline having a controlled concentration, in a spray contacting manner, onto a metallic wall surface adapted to be cooled by a circulating refrigerant, to thereby form saline ice on said metallic wall surface, said ice making means including scraper means for scraping saline ice off said metallic wall surface into said ice storage compartment.

5. An apparatus for producing saline ice substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

6. A method of producing saline ice substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. *o 5544 S 5.5 5 r S 55 S. Dated this 3rd day of TOP COMPANY By their Patent Attorneys COLLISON CO. December 1997