LT7066B - A method of defrosting large-capacity tree sap - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention belongs to the field of food processing, namely to liquid heating and cooling systems, specifically to deep freezing and large capacity rapid thawing of tree sap. The invention is relevant for thawing industrial amounts of juice within a set maximally short time, i.e. within 2 days. The claimed large capacity tree sap defrosting system consists of an industrial container (1), e.g. (1000 ltr. capacity) with tightly closed lid (2). The product (juice) frozen to (-20°C) is stored in the container (3). A 10-20 cm hole ( 4) is drilled in the frozen product vertically over the entire height of the container, into which a 3-6 KW heating rod (5) is immersed, above which is hung 0.2-0.3 KW pump (6), pump capacity 900 1/h, which is immersed in the thawed the amount of juice in the container so that the suction hole (7) is immersed in the thawed juice. The fully thawed juice (3) is collected in the collection container (10) through the discharge tap.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention belongs to the field of food processing, namely to liquid heating and cooling systems, specifically to deep freezing and rapid thawing of large-capacity tree sap.

STATE OF THE ART

It is known that tree sap has beneficial properties only when it is freshly extracted, i.e. y its best useful properties are at room temperature for a period of two days, in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. After that, the sap begins to ferment (see Health and medicine portal MEDGURU Maple and birch sap-source of health. Sap recipes, 07/07/2014). In order to preserve the useful properties of the juice, it is preserved or deep-frozen to (-20 °C). Such requirements apply to all food products in order to maintain all the beneficial properties of the product.

The well-known "Creation and development of frozen birch sap products" (see MB "Suleda grant agreement No. 0l.2.2-MITA-k-702-0-0056). The fresh juice extracted according to the described technology is frozen (-20 °C) in the selected package. Using this technology, it is possible to present an organic, fresh product to the market all year round in the form of ice cubes, or simply frozen in a selected small plastic package. In small packs, the ice cubes thaw quickly at room temperature and are consumed during the juice's most effective shelf life. This is the simplest defrosting method applicable to domestic users when defrosting small amounts of juice.

Recently, when extracting juice in large industrial quantities, it is deep-frozen in large 1000-liter containers (-18-20 °C). The problem is to thaw such a large amount of juice within 2 days (until the juice is suitable for consumption) and provide it to the consumer not only during the juice extraction season, but also throughout the year.

Various industrial methods of defrosting frozen liquids and refrigeration showcases are known. One such is "Sequential hot gas defrosting method and apparatus (see Patent US 7461515B2, F25B 47/022 published 2008-12-09), which uses hot gas and an apparatus that ensures sequential defrosting of the refrigerated parts of each frozen display case (evaporator) in the showcase group. Each evaporator in the evaporator group is defrosted in turn, while the remaining evaporators in the group continue to operate in cooling mode. This invention is used in trade chains for display cases with food products for freezing and thawing, but it is not suitable for quick thawing of a large amount of juice frozen by deep freezing at -18-20 °C, because in the specified invention there is no mixing of the product to be thawed, which is necessary for thawing the juice.

A known cargo defrosting system and defrosting apparatus with monitoring of the defrosting operation using radio frequencies (see patent US 2020085082 (Al), A23L3/005, H05B6/72 published 2020-03-19). Radio frequency (RF) signals are applied to a transmission path that is connected to one or more electrodes closest to the cavity so that the one or more electrodes radiate RF electromagnetic energy. The RF power value of the RF signal in the transmission path is periodically measured, resulting in the RF power values and the rate of change of the RF power values.

The controller, using the rate of change of the RF power values and the value of the low loss indicator, determines that the load is defrosted and stops supplying RF signals. This method is not suitable for defrosting large-capacity juice, because with this method, thawing of deep-frozen juice would take more than 2 days, since the heat exchange would only take place from the outside to the inside and there would be no mixing of the juice fractions to be thawed.

Known patent (see US 5103649 A23G9/046, 14/04/1992), method of electronic control of frozen carbonated beverage machines and their defrost heaters. This is a control scheme for accurately determining the viscosity of a semi-frozen beverage as a function of drive motor torque. The viscosity scale has a value of zero when the drink is known to be completely liquid. Viscosity is maintained within a narrow range based on pre-defined sets of three levels of low, medium and high viscosity.

In the mentioned method, the drink is thawed from a semi-frozen consistency. This method is not suitable for thawing a large volume of deep-frozen juice (-20 °C), since juice is a specific product in which the constituent juice fractions freeze at different temperatures, so it is necessary to fully mix the dissolved fractions throughout the volume of the container to obtain a single thawed product.

A patent is known (see US 5212954, B67D 1/0016, published 05/25/1993) for improvements in electric defrost heaters for use in frozen carbonated beverage machines. A frozen fizzy drink machine has refrigeration cylinders used to make a frozen drink. One or more tubes are attached in a heat exchange relationship along the outside of the freezing cylinder. Cartridge-style heating elements are easily inserted into the tubes to defrost the beverage in the cooling cylinder.

Said inventions generally relate to systems and methods for dispensing frozen carbonated beverages, such as may be offered to a food or beverage service provider, convenience store, or the like. These devices are dispensers intended for drinks in which more than two liquid components have been mixed to be stored in an intermediate container, maintaining the corresponding temperature of the chilled drink close to the freezing temperature.

The system and method of defrosting (dispensing) frozen carbonated drinks at the closest technical level (see Patent US 2023135547 A23G9/28 published on 05/04/2023). The system includes a barrel having an inner wall and configured to hold a frozen beverage therein. The present invention is a frozen beverage dispensing system that includes a cooling system that cools the thawed beverage and a melting system that heats a portion of the frozen beverage exiting the barrel before the portion of the frozen beverage is re-entered the barrel. . The cooling system cools the drink radially outward from the inner wall. Mixing occurs radially outward from the inner wall. The melting system heats the frozen drink radially (in a circle) to the inner wall. Agitation causes the relatively larger ice crystals to move inward from the inner wall, and the melting system reduces the size of the relatively larger ice crystals. The mixing system has a stirrer bar that rotates in the barrel to mix the frozen drink. The stirrer rod is induction heated to heat the frozen drink while stirring.

This method of defrosting works by the process of continuous dispensing of frozen carbonated beverage, in relatively small containers, involves freezing and thawing, serving and dispensing at the same time when the product is not frozen by deep freezing. This method is not suitable for rapid complete thawing of large quantities of juice frozen by deep freezing at low temperatures, since juice is a product containing several components with different freezing and thawing temperatures. The sap of the tree contains a considerable amount of sucrose. During freezing, the product fractionates because the freezing temperature of the sucrose solution is lower (-1.4 °C) than that of water (0-1 °C). Therefore, during freezing, an ice block first begins to form in the container, which constantly expands, pushing the sucrose solution upwards. After the product is finally frozen, a layer of sucrose solution forms on top. During the thawing process, the sucrose solution is first thawed, which, as the ice volume decreases, descends along the walls of the container and ends up at the bottom of the container. This characteristic of the juice solution prevents the gradually thawed product from being presented to the consumer, as the sucrose fraction would enter the dispensing container first. Therefore, in order to provide the consumer with a thawed, unpasteurized product, it is necessary to thaw and mix the entire frozen product in the container in order to fully mix the sucrose with the remaining juice fraction. Complete thawing must take a specified period of no longer than two days before the product begins to ferment. The thawed juice must be stored in the refrigerator and consumed within 5 days.

The purpose of the invention is to thaw large-capacity juice ice frozen (-18-20 °C) in an industrial e.g. (1000 l) in a container, to reduce container costs, avoiding freezing juice in a small capacity container, and the possibility of providing high-quality thawed juice in large quantities throughout the year.

ESSENCE OF THE INVENTION

The essence of the invention is a method of defrosting large-capacity tree sap, which includes defrosting a frozen drink in a container with an integrated heating system for defrosting a cold drink and a stirring system for pushing out the thawed drink, in a container (container) (l) juice (3) is frozen by deep freezing to -18 -20 °C, a vertical channel (4) with a diameter of 10-20 cm is drilled in the center of the frozen juice ice, 1/3 of which is filled with the remnants of ice drilling of thawed juice, into which a heating element (5) is inserted, above which a pump (6) is permanently installed, which in the course of circular circulation continuously for 44-48 hours. stirs the defrosting juice to 0 °C and collects the juice (3) in the container (10) through the discharge tap (9) installed at the bottom of the container.

The optimal capacity (industrial container) volume is 1000 l.

The pump (6) is installed in the channel (4) so that its suction hole (7) is immersed in the thawed juice in the channel (4), and the discharge hole (8) is above the surface of the thawed juice.

Optimal power of the heating element is 3-6 kW.

Optimal pump power 0.2 - 0.3 kW, performance 900 1/h.

The heating element and the pump are connected to the mains.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The invention is illustrated in fig.1, fig. 2.

Fig. - the juice thawing diagram is shown in section A-A, in which:

1- container,

2- container lid,

3- frozen juice ice,

4- channel in an ice block,

5-heating element,

6- pump,

7- pump inlet,

8-pump outlet,

9- juice outlet tap,

10- juice collection container.

Fig. - top view of container 1, in which:

- frozen juice ice,

-channel,

- vacuum cleaner.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The method of thawing large-capacity tree sap consists of a container (container) (1) in which sap ice is frozen by deep freezing (up to -18-20 °C) (3), in the center of which a vertical channel (4) is drilled, 1/3 of which is filled with thawed with the remains of the drilling of juice ice (3), into which the heating element (5) is inserted, above which the pump (6) is permanently installed, in the course of circular circulation continuously for 44-48 hours. mix the thawed juice, so that its (pump) (6) suction hole (7) is immersed in the thawed amount of juice in the channel (4), and the discharge hole (8) is above the surface of the thawed juice, thawed juice through the tap (9), installed at the bottom of the container (l), collected in a container (10).

The defrosting process is as follows. The industrial container with frozen juice is placed in the thawing room. A 10-20 cm channel (4) is drilled in the frozen product. The frozen chips of sap obtained by drilling the channel (4) are thawed (about 3 - 5 liters) and poured back into the channel (4), which is 1/3 of the height of the channel (4), into which the heating element (5) is inserted, which is fully is immersed in the dissolved juice, and above the heating element (5) a pump (6) is permanently installed, the suction opening (7) of which is immersed in the thawed juice, and the exhaust opening (8) is above the surface of the dissolved juice. During the continuous heating process, the pump (6) pumps the thawed juice upwards. The sap, having reached the top of the channel (4), bounces off the lid of the container (2) and is returned to the cavity of the channel (4) and re-enters the pump. This results in a closed vertical cycle of juice thawing - mixing, during which the juice (3) thawed in the channel (4) and heated by the heater is constantly in contact with the ice block of the frozen juice, which ensures high heat exchange between the ice block and the thawing product. During continuous heating and mixing, heat exchange occurs not only vertically, but also horizontally to the outer walls of the container, until the entire product is thawed and reaches about 0 °C. The entire defrosting process takes no longer than 48 hours. (Day 2). Such thawed and fully mixed juice in the entire volume of the container is collected through the tap (9) in the container (10) and has all the properties of freshly extracted juice and is suitable for use, bottling, and transportation.

Depending on the specified optional heater power of 3-6 kW, it is possible to adjust the defrosting time from 44-48 hours, which, as mentioned above, due to the specific characteristics of the juice, cannot be longer than 2 days.

If we thawed such a container of frozen juice in the usual way, placing it in a warm room at 25 °C, such a container would thaw in 7-9 days, the juice would start to ferment after 2 days and would not be suitable for consumption. In addition, additional mixing of the thawed juice fractions in the container would be required, as the sucrose fraction that had first dissolved would remain at the bottom of the container.

Compared to the prototype, the claimed method is much simpler, it does not require an additional system for freezing and mixing the product after it is thawed, in order to maintain the desired temperature, it is transportable, because only three main elements are needed for quick thawing of juice, a container of frozen juice, a heating element and a pump. An interested business entity, having purchased such a container of frozen juice at any time of the year and using the stated thawing method, due to its compactness and simplicity, can provide the consumer with large thawed quantities of high-quality juice for people's health throughout the year.

In summary, we can say that the stated method of thawing juice expands the possibilities of juice consumption, because it takes no longer than two days to maintain the proper quality of juice, thawing a container of deep-frozen juice with a capacity of 1000 l to 0 °C, which results in a uniform juice of excellent quality without sediments. . Freezing juice in large-capacity industrial containers reduces container costs compared to freezing juice in small containers and expands the possibilities of using juice throughout the year, not only during the short season of extracting juice.

Claims (6)

DEFINITION OF THE INVENTION 1. A method of defrosting large-capacity tree sap, which includes defrosting a frozen drink in a container with an integrated heating system for defrosting a cold drink and a stirring system for displacing the thawed drink, but differs in that the juice (3) is frozen in the container (container) (l) by deep freezing to -18 - 20 °C, in the center of the frozen juice (3) a vertical channel (4) with a diameter of 10-20 cm is drilled, 1/3 of which is filled with ice drilling residues of thawed juice, and into which a heating element (5) is inserted, above which a stationary device the pump (6), which continuously circulates for 44 - 48 hours. stirs the defrosting juice in the container (l) until its complete defrosting, after the juice reaches 0 °C and through the discharge tap (9), installed at the bottom of the container (l), the juice (3) is collected in the container (10). 2. The method according to point l differs in that the optimal capacity (l) (industrial container) volume is 1000 l. 3. The method according to point 1 differs in that the pump (6) is installed in the channel (4) so that its suction opening (7) is immersed in the thawed juice in the channel (4), and the discharge opening (8) is above the surface of the thawed juice. 4. The method according to point 3 differs in that the optimal power of the heating element is 3 - 6 kW. 5. The method according to point 3 differs in that the optimal pump power is 0.2 - 0.3 kW, the performance is 900 1/h. 6. The method according to points 4 and 5 differs in that