CA1339869C - Vertical evaporator for the production of maple syruo - Google Patents
Vertical evaporator for the production of maple syruoInfo
- Publication number
- CA1339869C CA1339869C CA 600542 CA600542A CA1339869C CA 1339869 C CA1339869 C CA 1339869C CA 600542 CA600542 CA 600542 CA 600542 A CA600542 A CA 600542A CA 1339869 C CA1339869 C CA 1339869C
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- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- sap
- housing
- air
- concentrator
- heating
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired - Fee Related
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- Vaporization, Distillation, Condensation, Sublimation, And Cold Traps (AREA)
Abstract
An apparatus for concentrating sap from maple to produce maple syrup comprising a vertical housing, a plurality of nozzles in the housing for spraying the sap in droplets throughout the housing, a stream of air flowing upwardly in the housing between the droplets adapted to pick up humidity from the droplets and accordingly concentrating the sap. The humidified air is exhausted through the top of the housing while the concentrated sap is picked up at the bottom of the housing. This apparatus is further used for recycling the sap until the latter is sufficiently concentrated. This apparatus is also used in combination with a conventional evaporator while the heat, usually lost by the evaporator, is used to heat the sap and the air during the concentration process.
Description
1~398~9 VERTICAL EVAPORATOR FOR THE PRODUCTION OF MAPLE SYRUP
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the invention The invention is directed to a process and an apparatus for producing maple syrup and more particularly for a vertical evaporator adapted to save energy and to improve the quality of the syrup produced.
Prior Art The evaporation of sap in the production of maple syrup is usually made in horizontal pans provided with partitions and heated with wood logs. The vapor produced is usually lost in the atmosphere. Some attempts have been made to use the heat lost by the vapor which rises over the flat horizontal pans.
The applicant has also been informed that water has been extracted from sap by a process referred to by the reversed osmoses process.
SU~MARY OF T~ INVENTION
The present invention is particularly directed to a new type of concentrator for sap adapted to evaporate water from sap and to collect maple syrup. The sap is sprayed into fine drops, in a vertical housing and a flow of upwardly projected air is circulated through the fine drops to pick up a percentage of the water contained in the drops. The humidified air is ejected out of the housing and the partially concentrated sap is recirculated in the housing until it is concentrate according to the predetermined characteristic of the maple syrup. The new concentrator is generally used in .
,.~ , 13398~1 la combination with a conventional evaporator for sap. The heat from the vapor of the evaporator is used to additionally heat the sap before it enters the housing and is also used to heat ~t ~
enters the housing. The use of the heat from the vapor throughout the concentration cycle constitutes an energy saving means. The boiling and the dehydrating stages can alternately be used to vary the characteristics of the resulting maple syrup.
More particularly, the invention provides a con-centrator for use in the production of maple syrup, the concentrator comprising:
- a vertical housing;
- intake means connected to the housing for intro-ducing heated sap containing water to be evaporated to produce maple syrup into the housing;
- spraying means in the housing connected to the intake means for spraying the heated sap in the form of droplets throughout this housing;
- ventilation means connected to the housing below the spraying means for introducing an upward flow of air into the housing and throughout the sprayed sap for dehumidifying this sap in part;
- venting means mounted at the top of the housing for allowing the flow of air to exit the housing in a water saturated condition free of droplets;
- tray means disposed in the lower part of the housing for collecting the dehumidified sap;
- pumping means for returning at least part of the dehumidified sap collected in the tray means through the intake means into the vertical housing for addi-tionally dehumidifying this sap, and - first heating means for heating this partially dehumidified sap before it enters the intake means and returns into the vertical housing, the first heating means ~"ffl 13398~9 - 2a -comprlsing a condenser having an enclosure, a winding tubular member in the enclosure through which the sap may circulate, means for circulating heated humid air around this tubular member and within the enclosure, and receptacle means for collecting a condensate from said humid air, whereby the sap, in the winding tubular member, is heated by the humid air.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:
Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a process for producing maple syrup, according to the invention, Figures 2 and 3 are perspective views of a vertical housing for concentrating sap, Figure 4 is a perspective view of an evaporator for producing maple syrup according to the process represented in figure 1, and Figures 5 and 6 are two schematic representations of alternative processes to the one represented in figure 1.
DETAILED DESCRITPION OF THE INVENTION:
The process according to the invention is illus-trated in figure 1. The conventional sap evaporator 10 when heated produces vapor through the chimney 12 which is sent in the condenser 14. The heated sap which comes out of the evaporator 10 is directed to the coil 16 in the condenser 14 at a temperature which is close to the boiling temperature. The heated sap is directed towards the upper part of a vertical housing 18 in which the sap is sprayed during its fall towards the bottom of the verticla housing 18. A ventilator 20 produceds a flow of air which is directed towards the lower part of the vertical housing 18 and projected through the sprayed sap, i.e. through the .~
1339~69 - 2b -droplets of sap falling in the vertical housing 18. The upward flow of air has a very small pressure but sufficient to pass through hte droplets of sap. The incoming flow of air is relatively n 13398~9 dry but picks up humidity from the droplets of sap before it reaches the venting outlet 22. The relative speed and temperture of the droplets of the sap and of the air in the vertical housing 18 is such that the air reaching the venting outlet 22 will reach a humidity saturation of about 100%. The speed of the air flow from the ventilator 20 is controled at 24 and is heated in the condenser 26 before it reaches the intake 28 of the vertical housing 18. The condenser 26 consists of an enclosure through which the air from the ventilator flows and contains a radiator element such as a car radiator through which the condensate collected in the tray 32 passes through.
The condensate is formed in the tray 32 from the vapor received from the chimney 12 and which is cooled by the coil 16. The condensate flows freely from the tray 32 through the radiator 30 and is expelled through an exit 34. A tray 36 is disposed below the vertical housing 18 to receive the partially concentrated sap from the housing 18 and is returned to the coil 16 to be heated and to the top of the housing 18 to be sprayed for further concentration of the sap. A portion of the sap from the tray 36 can leave through the conduit 38 to return to the conventional evaporator 10 to be directed to the housing 18 in a manner explained above.
The novel aspect of this process is particularly characterized by the vertical housing 18. One embodiment of the vertical housing is illustrated in figure 2 which comprises a vertical housing 40 containing a continuous piping system 42 receiving the sap from the condensor 14 (fig. 1). The piping system 41-42 is provided with a plurality of nozzles 44 adapted to spray sap throughout the vertical housing 40. The intake 46 of the air flow has a cover 48 to protect it and prevent the sap from entering the intake 46. The air from the ventilator passes through the radiator or heat exchanger 50 to reach the air duct 52 before it reaches the air intake 46. A tray 54 mounted at the bottom of the housing 40 is adapted to collect the sap in a partially concentrated condition and corresponds to the tray 36 shown in figure 1. A roof 56 covers the housing 133~8~9 40 and is spaced from it to allow the humid air to flow out of the housing 40. A venting system such as louvers are disposed below the roof 56 to control the exit of the humid air. The housing 40 operates at its maximum efficiency when the humidity of the air coming out at the top of the housing is 100~.
Figure 3 illustrates an installation similar to one shown in figure 2 including a condenser 60 corresponding to the condenser 14 shown in figure 1 and a tray 62 corresponding to the tray 32 for the condensate shown in figure 1. The air from the conventional evaporator 10 enters the condensor 60 through the holes 64 at about the boiling point of the water and leaves through the exhaust hole 66 after having passed through a winding tube 68. The amount of vapor which condensates during its passage in the condenser 60 falls in the tray 62 to produce a condensate which is directed through the tube 70 towards the heat exchanger 50. The condensate being hot water is adapted, as explained in figure 1, to heat the air coming from the ventilator and to direct it towards the air inlet 46 and through the housing 40. The sap which as been partially concentrated in the housing 40 and which has reached the tray 54 is redirected towards the condenser 60 through the tubes 72 and 74. The partially concentrated sap which has reached the tube 74 at a temperature of about 130~F, passes through the winding coil 68 to be reheated by the vapor in the condenser 60. The sap coming out of the condenser 60, through the tube 76, reaches a temperature of about 200~F. The sap leaving the tube 76 is redirected towards a spreading channel 41 (fig. 2) which directs the partially concentrated sap towards the feeding lines 42 and the nozzles 44. The temperature of the sap downwardly flowing through the housing 40 and the temperature and the speed of the air upwardly flowing through it, is optimized by maintaining a complete water saturation of the air leaving through the vents 55. The air pressure coming from the air intake 46 is maintained at a relatively low level and usually at a pressure of less than 2 inches of water.
As shown in figure 1, the addition of new partially ~339869 concentrated sap may be introduced into the condenser 14 for maintaining a continuous circulation of sap through the system.
The maple syryp, when it has reached the desired concentration, is collected from the tray 36 or 54. The fully concentrated sap may also be returned to the conventional evaporator as explained later.
Figure 4 shows an embodiment of the invention in combination with the conventional evaporator 80. The hot air which is produced by the evaporator and rejected through the chimney 82, instead of being wasted in the atmosphere, is directed towards the condenser 84. The sap going through the coil of the condensor 84 is directed through the tube 86 into the vertical housing 88, collected by the tray 90 and returned to the condenser 84 by a circulating pump 92. The obtained by the condenser 84, is directed to the heat exchanger 9 6 as a hot liquid and expelled through the tube 100 as a cool liquid. The air from the ventilator 94 is projected at surrounding temperature into the air exchanger 96 and reaches the tube 102 as hot air which is then blown into the vertical housing 88 through the sprayed sap as explained above. The sap, which has reached a satisfactory high degree of concentration in the tray sO is directed to a terminal tray 93 of the evaporator 80 through a conducting line 94 and collected through a tap 96. In this embodiment, the vapor which reaches the condenser 84 from the chimney 82 iS at about 212~F. The sap which enters the condenser 84 at about 120~F leaves the condenser at about 195~F
before it enters the vertical housing 88. The condensate which is formed from the condenser 84 passes through the heat exchanger 96 and warms up the air coming from the ventilator to a temperature between room temperature and the atmospheric air to reach a temperature of about 105~F. The hot dry air flowing upwardly through the vertical housing 88 and in particular through the vaporized sap flows outside the housing 88 through a venting system which is schematically illustrated by a chimney 100.
The use of the vapor from the chimney 82 of the .~,.
1339~8~9 conventional evaporator of the sap and the condensat,e from the condenser such as 14, is designed to save energy while the use of the vertical housing such as 18 can produce a higher quality of maple syrup particularly due to the fact that the sap and the partially concentrated sap are not exposed to high temperatures during any long length of time. High temperatures over extended periods of time cause the maple syrup to be dark while clear maple syrup is considered to be of a higher quality.
The procedure for saving energy can be modified while maintaining the above-described process and all its essential parts. In figure 5, the air from the ventilator 102 is not heated before it reaches the bottom of the vertical housing 104. However, the speed of the air flow is modified by a flow controlling device 106 while the condensate 108 from the condensor 110 is used to warm up an inflow of sap which is fed to the tray 112 disposed below the vertical housing 104. The system as described in figure 5 is substantially similar to the one described in figure 1 except that the conventional evaporator is fed by the tray 112 which is constantly fed by an inflow of sap from a conduit 114. Before entering the tray 112, the sap is preheated in a condenser 116 which receives the condensate 108. One of the main differences with the procedure described in figure 5, consists in that the air from the ventilator 102 is not heated before it enters the vertical housing 104. This modification affects the temperature of the air reaching the venting system 118. This procedure may be preferred depending on the quantity of water which needs to be extracted from the sap.
Another alternative process is schematically illustrated in figure 6. The process makes use of two vertical housing 120 and 122. The part of the process surrounded by the dotted line 124 corresponds essentially to the one described in figure 5. However, the ventilator 126 projects an upward flow of air through both vertical housings 120 and 122 while controling the speed of the air through flow control devices 13~98~9 121 and 123 respectively. The condenser 128 has a double winding coil so as to supply both vertical housings 120 and 122. The partially concentrated sap, leaving line 133 is returned to the conventional evaporator. The tray 130 is constantly fed through the feed line 132. The partially concentrated sap flowing with the direction of the condenser 128 from the tray 134 is heated, while passing through the double condenser 128 and further concentrated through the vertical housing 120 before returning to the tray 134 where the fully concentrated maple syrup will be picked up through line 136. It is pointed out that the tray 134 is also constantly fed through the line 135 and may also be heated to increase its efficiency in a similar manner as tray 130.
In one of the specific embodiments made from the present invention, the vertical housing has a rectangular horizontal cross-section of about 50 inches by 25 inches and about 165 inches high. The nozzles 44 are disposed in three vertical columns mounted on a plurality of horizontally superposed pipes 42 projecting 45 gallons of sap per minute.
The pipes 42 are spaced by about 4 inches and are spread over a height of about 52 inches. The temperature of the sap and of the surrounding air as well as a plurality of other factors are generally adjusted so that the humidity leaving the top the vertical housing is about 100~. It should be reminded that the quantity of water that can be contained in the exhausted substantially varies with the temperature of the latter. Air at a temperature of 140~F may contain 2.2 times more water than the same quantity of air at 115~F.
The flow of air is accordingly computed in relation with the mass of water which needs to be absorbed and the available heat from the condensate. The air pressure needed to maintain an acceptable flow of air through the liquid droplets in the vertical housing is usually less than half an inch of water.
One preferred embodiment of the condenser 60 such as shown in figure 3 consists essentially of a continuous tubular ~, winding 68 disposed in a horizontal fashion and extending throughout the enclosure of the condenser 60. The heat exchanger such as 26 in figure 1, was made with a pair of car radiator connected in series through which the condensate was flowing. For a flow of 170 gallons per hour of condensate, entering at 200~F the temperature of the condensate at the exit was 75~F. Such an arrangement could use a maximum flow of air of 600 feet per minute.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the invention The invention is directed to a process and an apparatus for producing maple syrup and more particularly for a vertical evaporator adapted to save energy and to improve the quality of the syrup produced.
Prior Art The evaporation of sap in the production of maple syrup is usually made in horizontal pans provided with partitions and heated with wood logs. The vapor produced is usually lost in the atmosphere. Some attempts have been made to use the heat lost by the vapor which rises over the flat horizontal pans.
The applicant has also been informed that water has been extracted from sap by a process referred to by the reversed osmoses process.
SU~MARY OF T~ INVENTION
The present invention is particularly directed to a new type of concentrator for sap adapted to evaporate water from sap and to collect maple syrup. The sap is sprayed into fine drops, in a vertical housing and a flow of upwardly projected air is circulated through the fine drops to pick up a percentage of the water contained in the drops. The humidified air is ejected out of the housing and the partially concentrated sap is recirculated in the housing until it is concentrate according to the predetermined characteristic of the maple syrup. The new concentrator is generally used in .
,.~ , 13398~1 la combination with a conventional evaporator for sap. The heat from the vapor of the evaporator is used to additionally heat the sap before it enters the housing and is also used to heat ~t ~
enters the housing. The use of the heat from the vapor throughout the concentration cycle constitutes an energy saving means. The boiling and the dehydrating stages can alternately be used to vary the characteristics of the resulting maple syrup.
More particularly, the invention provides a con-centrator for use in the production of maple syrup, the concentrator comprising:
- a vertical housing;
- intake means connected to the housing for intro-ducing heated sap containing water to be evaporated to produce maple syrup into the housing;
- spraying means in the housing connected to the intake means for spraying the heated sap in the form of droplets throughout this housing;
- ventilation means connected to the housing below the spraying means for introducing an upward flow of air into the housing and throughout the sprayed sap for dehumidifying this sap in part;
- venting means mounted at the top of the housing for allowing the flow of air to exit the housing in a water saturated condition free of droplets;
- tray means disposed in the lower part of the housing for collecting the dehumidified sap;
- pumping means for returning at least part of the dehumidified sap collected in the tray means through the intake means into the vertical housing for addi-tionally dehumidifying this sap, and - first heating means for heating this partially dehumidified sap before it enters the intake means and returns into the vertical housing, the first heating means ~"ffl 13398~9 - 2a -comprlsing a condenser having an enclosure, a winding tubular member in the enclosure through which the sap may circulate, means for circulating heated humid air around this tubular member and within the enclosure, and receptacle means for collecting a condensate from said humid air, whereby the sap, in the winding tubular member, is heated by the humid air.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:
Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a process for producing maple syrup, according to the invention, Figures 2 and 3 are perspective views of a vertical housing for concentrating sap, Figure 4 is a perspective view of an evaporator for producing maple syrup according to the process represented in figure 1, and Figures 5 and 6 are two schematic representations of alternative processes to the one represented in figure 1.
DETAILED DESCRITPION OF THE INVENTION:
The process according to the invention is illus-trated in figure 1. The conventional sap evaporator 10 when heated produces vapor through the chimney 12 which is sent in the condenser 14. The heated sap which comes out of the evaporator 10 is directed to the coil 16 in the condenser 14 at a temperature which is close to the boiling temperature. The heated sap is directed towards the upper part of a vertical housing 18 in which the sap is sprayed during its fall towards the bottom of the verticla housing 18. A ventilator 20 produceds a flow of air which is directed towards the lower part of the vertical housing 18 and projected through the sprayed sap, i.e. through the .~
1339~69 - 2b -droplets of sap falling in the vertical housing 18. The upward flow of air has a very small pressure but sufficient to pass through hte droplets of sap. The incoming flow of air is relatively n 13398~9 dry but picks up humidity from the droplets of sap before it reaches the venting outlet 22. The relative speed and temperture of the droplets of the sap and of the air in the vertical housing 18 is such that the air reaching the venting outlet 22 will reach a humidity saturation of about 100%. The speed of the air flow from the ventilator 20 is controled at 24 and is heated in the condenser 26 before it reaches the intake 28 of the vertical housing 18. The condenser 26 consists of an enclosure through which the air from the ventilator flows and contains a radiator element such as a car radiator through which the condensate collected in the tray 32 passes through.
The condensate is formed in the tray 32 from the vapor received from the chimney 12 and which is cooled by the coil 16. The condensate flows freely from the tray 32 through the radiator 30 and is expelled through an exit 34. A tray 36 is disposed below the vertical housing 18 to receive the partially concentrated sap from the housing 18 and is returned to the coil 16 to be heated and to the top of the housing 18 to be sprayed for further concentration of the sap. A portion of the sap from the tray 36 can leave through the conduit 38 to return to the conventional evaporator 10 to be directed to the housing 18 in a manner explained above.
The novel aspect of this process is particularly characterized by the vertical housing 18. One embodiment of the vertical housing is illustrated in figure 2 which comprises a vertical housing 40 containing a continuous piping system 42 receiving the sap from the condensor 14 (fig. 1). The piping system 41-42 is provided with a plurality of nozzles 44 adapted to spray sap throughout the vertical housing 40. The intake 46 of the air flow has a cover 48 to protect it and prevent the sap from entering the intake 46. The air from the ventilator passes through the radiator or heat exchanger 50 to reach the air duct 52 before it reaches the air intake 46. A tray 54 mounted at the bottom of the housing 40 is adapted to collect the sap in a partially concentrated condition and corresponds to the tray 36 shown in figure 1. A roof 56 covers the housing 133~8~9 40 and is spaced from it to allow the humid air to flow out of the housing 40. A venting system such as louvers are disposed below the roof 56 to control the exit of the humid air. The housing 40 operates at its maximum efficiency when the humidity of the air coming out at the top of the housing is 100~.
Figure 3 illustrates an installation similar to one shown in figure 2 including a condenser 60 corresponding to the condenser 14 shown in figure 1 and a tray 62 corresponding to the tray 32 for the condensate shown in figure 1. The air from the conventional evaporator 10 enters the condensor 60 through the holes 64 at about the boiling point of the water and leaves through the exhaust hole 66 after having passed through a winding tube 68. The amount of vapor which condensates during its passage in the condenser 60 falls in the tray 62 to produce a condensate which is directed through the tube 70 towards the heat exchanger 50. The condensate being hot water is adapted, as explained in figure 1, to heat the air coming from the ventilator and to direct it towards the air inlet 46 and through the housing 40. The sap which as been partially concentrated in the housing 40 and which has reached the tray 54 is redirected towards the condenser 60 through the tubes 72 and 74. The partially concentrated sap which has reached the tube 74 at a temperature of about 130~F, passes through the winding coil 68 to be reheated by the vapor in the condenser 60. The sap coming out of the condenser 60, through the tube 76, reaches a temperature of about 200~F. The sap leaving the tube 76 is redirected towards a spreading channel 41 (fig. 2) which directs the partially concentrated sap towards the feeding lines 42 and the nozzles 44. The temperature of the sap downwardly flowing through the housing 40 and the temperature and the speed of the air upwardly flowing through it, is optimized by maintaining a complete water saturation of the air leaving through the vents 55. The air pressure coming from the air intake 46 is maintained at a relatively low level and usually at a pressure of less than 2 inches of water.
As shown in figure 1, the addition of new partially ~339869 concentrated sap may be introduced into the condenser 14 for maintaining a continuous circulation of sap through the system.
The maple syryp, when it has reached the desired concentration, is collected from the tray 36 or 54. The fully concentrated sap may also be returned to the conventional evaporator as explained later.
Figure 4 shows an embodiment of the invention in combination with the conventional evaporator 80. The hot air which is produced by the evaporator and rejected through the chimney 82, instead of being wasted in the atmosphere, is directed towards the condenser 84. The sap going through the coil of the condensor 84 is directed through the tube 86 into the vertical housing 88, collected by the tray 90 and returned to the condenser 84 by a circulating pump 92. The obtained by the condenser 84, is directed to the heat exchanger 9 6 as a hot liquid and expelled through the tube 100 as a cool liquid. The air from the ventilator 94 is projected at surrounding temperature into the air exchanger 96 and reaches the tube 102 as hot air which is then blown into the vertical housing 88 through the sprayed sap as explained above. The sap, which has reached a satisfactory high degree of concentration in the tray sO is directed to a terminal tray 93 of the evaporator 80 through a conducting line 94 and collected through a tap 96. In this embodiment, the vapor which reaches the condenser 84 from the chimney 82 iS at about 212~F. The sap which enters the condenser 84 at about 120~F leaves the condenser at about 195~F
before it enters the vertical housing 88. The condensate which is formed from the condenser 84 passes through the heat exchanger 96 and warms up the air coming from the ventilator to a temperature between room temperature and the atmospheric air to reach a temperature of about 105~F. The hot dry air flowing upwardly through the vertical housing 88 and in particular through the vaporized sap flows outside the housing 88 through a venting system which is schematically illustrated by a chimney 100.
The use of the vapor from the chimney 82 of the .~,.
1339~8~9 conventional evaporator of the sap and the condensat,e from the condenser such as 14, is designed to save energy while the use of the vertical housing such as 18 can produce a higher quality of maple syrup particularly due to the fact that the sap and the partially concentrated sap are not exposed to high temperatures during any long length of time. High temperatures over extended periods of time cause the maple syrup to be dark while clear maple syrup is considered to be of a higher quality.
The procedure for saving energy can be modified while maintaining the above-described process and all its essential parts. In figure 5, the air from the ventilator 102 is not heated before it reaches the bottom of the vertical housing 104. However, the speed of the air flow is modified by a flow controlling device 106 while the condensate 108 from the condensor 110 is used to warm up an inflow of sap which is fed to the tray 112 disposed below the vertical housing 104. The system as described in figure 5 is substantially similar to the one described in figure 1 except that the conventional evaporator is fed by the tray 112 which is constantly fed by an inflow of sap from a conduit 114. Before entering the tray 112, the sap is preheated in a condenser 116 which receives the condensate 108. One of the main differences with the procedure described in figure 5, consists in that the air from the ventilator 102 is not heated before it enters the vertical housing 104. This modification affects the temperature of the air reaching the venting system 118. This procedure may be preferred depending on the quantity of water which needs to be extracted from the sap.
Another alternative process is schematically illustrated in figure 6. The process makes use of two vertical housing 120 and 122. The part of the process surrounded by the dotted line 124 corresponds essentially to the one described in figure 5. However, the ventilator 126 projects an upward flow of air through both vertical housings 120 and 122 while controling the speed of the air through flow control devices 13~98~9 121 and 123 respectively. The condenser 128 has a double winding coil so as to supply both vertical housings 120 and 122. The partially concentrated sap, leaving line 133 is returned to the conventional evaporator. The tray 130 is constantly fed through the feed line 132. The partially concentrated sap flowing with the direction of the condenser 128 from the tray 134 is heated, while passing through the double condenser 128 and further concentrated through the vertical housing 120 before returning to the tray 134 where the fully concentrated maple syrup will be picked up through line 136. It is pointed out that the tray 134 is also constantly fed through the line 135 and may also be heated to increase its efficiency in a similar manner as tray 130.
In one of the specific embodiments made from the present invention, the vertical housing has a rectangular horizontal cross-section of about 50 inches by 25 inches and about 165 inches high. The nozzles 44 are disposed in three vertical columns mounted on a plurality of horizontally superposed pipes 42 projecting 45 gallons of sap per minute.
The pipes 42 are spaced by about 4 inches and are spread over a height of about 52 inches. The temperature of the sap and of the surrounding air as well as a plurality of other factors are generally adjusted so that the humidity leaving the top the vertical housing is about 100~. It should be reminded that the quantity of water that can be contained in the exhausted substantially varies with the temperature of the latter. Air at a temperature of 140~F may contain 2.2 times more water than the same quantity of air at 115~F.
The flow of air is accordingly computed in relation with the mass of water which needs to be absorbed and the available heat from the condensate. The air pressure needed to maintain an acceptable flow of air through the liquid droplets in the vertical housing is usually less than half an inch of water.
One preferred embodiment of the condenser 60 such as shown in figure 3 consists essentially of a continuous tubular ~, winding 68 disposed in a horizontal fashion and extending throughout the enclosure of the condenser 60. The heat exchanger such as 26 in figure 1, was made with a pair of car radiator connected in series through which the condensate was flowing. For a flow of 170 gallons per hour of condensate, entering at 200~F the temperature of the condensate at the exit was 75~F. Such an arrangement could use a maximum flow of air of 600 feet per minute.
Claims (8)
1. A concentrator for use in the production of maple syrup, said concentrator comprising:
- a vertical housing;
- intake means connected to said housing for introducing heated sap containing water to be evaporated to produce said maple syrup into said housing;
- spraying means in said housing connected to said intake means for spraying said heated sap in the form of droplets throughout said housing;
- ventilation means connected to said housing below said spraying means for introducing an upward flow of air into said housing and throughout said sprayed sap for dehumidifying said sap in part:
- venting means mounted at the top of said housing for allowing said flow of air to exit said housing in a water saturated condition free of droplets;
- tray means disposed in the lower part of said housing for collecting said dehumidified sap;
- pumping means for returning at least part of said dehumidified sap collected in said tray means through said intake means into said vertical housing for additionally dehumidifying said sap, and - first heating means for heating said partially dehumidified sap before it enters said intake means and returns into said vertical housing, said first heating means comprising a condenser having an enclosure, a winding tubular member in said enclosure through which said sap may circulate, means for circulating heated humid air around said tubular member within said enclosure, and receptacle means for collecting a condensate from said humid air, whereby the sap, in said winding tubular member, is heated by said humid air.
- a vertical housing;
- intake means connected to said housing for introducing heated sap containing water to be evaporated to produce said maple syrup into said housing;
- spraying means in said housing connected to said intake means for spraying said heated sap in the form of droplets throughout said housing;
- ventilation means connected to said housing below said spraying means for introducing an upward flow of air into said housing and throughout said sprayed sap for dehumidifying said sap in part:
- venting means mounted at the top of said housing for allowing said flow of air to exit said housing in a water saturated condition free of droplets;
- tray means disposed in the lower part of said housing for collecting said dehumidified sap;
- pumping means for returning at least part of said dehumidified sap collected in said tray means through said intake means into said vertical housing for additionally dehumidifying said sap, and - first heating means for heating said partially dehumidified sap before it enters said intake means and returns into said vertical housing, said first heating means comprising a condenser having an enclosure, a winding tubular member in said enclosure through which said sap may circulate, means for circulating heated humid air around said tubular member within said enclosure, and receptacle means for collecting a condensate from said humid air, whereby the sap, in said winding tubular member, is heated by said humid air.
2. A concentrator as recited in claim 1, further comprising second heating means for heating the flow of air before the latter enters the housing.
3. A concentrator as recited in claim 2, wherein said second heating means comprises a radiator having a coiled tubular member for receiving and circulating the collected condensate of said first heating means, the flow of air to be heated circulating through said radiator around said coiled tubular member before reaching said housing.
4. A concentrator as recited in claim 1, 2 or 3, further comprising:
- a second vertical housing having sap intake means, spraying means, venting means and tray means; and - second piping means for transferring the sap collected in the tray means of the first housing to the second housing;
- said ventilation means being connected to both of said housings;
- said first heating means being also connected to both of said housings for heating sap before the latter enter said housings.
- a second vertical housing having sap intake means, spraying means, venting means and tray means; and - second piping means for transferring the sap collected in the tray means of the first housing to the second housing;
- said ventilation means being connected to both of said housings;
- said first heating means being also connected to both of said housings for heating sap before the latter enter said housings.
5. A concentrator as recited in claim 1, 2 or 3, comprising means for controlling the velocity of said flow of air and the temperature of said first heating means for maintaining the humidity of air exiting said exit means at about 100%.
6. A concentrator as recited in claim 4, comprising means for controlling the velocity of said flow of air and the temperature of said first heating means for maintaining the humidity of air exiting said exit means at about 100%.
7. A concentrator as recited in claim 1, 2, 3 or 6, further comprising:
- means for feeding into said intake means said sap to be concentrated from a conventional sap evaporator in which said sap to be concentrated has already been concentrated in part.
- means for feeding into said intake means said sap to be concentrated from a conventional sap evaporator in which said sap to be concentrated has already been concentrated in part.
8. A concentrator as recited in claim 5, further comprising:
- means for feeding into said intake means said sap to be concentrated from a conventional sap evaporator in which said sap to be concentrated has already been concentrated in part.
- means for feeding into said intake means said sap to be concentrated from a conventional sap evaporator in which said sap to be concentrated has already been concentrated in part.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB888813312A GB8813312D0 (en) | 1988-06-06 | 1988-06-06 | Maple sap evaporator with energy saving device |
| GB8813312.9 | 1988-06-06 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1339869C true CA1339869C (en) | 1998-05-19 |
Family
ID=10638131
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 600542 Expired - Fee Related CA1339869C (en) | 1988-06-06 | 1989-05-24 | Vertical evaporator for the production of maple syruo |
Country Status (2)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1339869C (en) |
| GB (1) | GB8813312D0 (en) |
-
1988
- 1988-06-06 GB GB888813312A patent/GB8813312D0/en active Pending
-
1989
- 1989-05-24 CA CA 600542 patent/CA1339869C/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| GB8813312D0 (en) | 1988-07-13 |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| MKLA | Lapsed |