WO2019238993A1

WO2019238993A1 - Milk standardisation device

Info

Publication number: WO2019238993A1
Application number: PCT/ES2019/070400
Authority: WO
Inventors: Holger FUNKE
Original assignee: Seppelec, S.L.
Priority date: 2018-06-11
Filing date: 2019-06-10
Publication date: 2019-12-19
Also published as: ES2735078B2; ES2735078A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a standardising devicefor milk, which is a cream-dosing device that can re-inject into milk the amount necessary to achieve a fat concentration value set in a recipe. The device is disposed at the outlet of a skimming unit and is supplied by a main line, which supplies the heavy phase, and by a secondary line, which supplies the light phase and also supplies any continuous processing line, sending the excess cream to a cream storage tank. The device is characterised in that it includes a fat meter (A) and a precise system for measuring (flow meters C1, C2 and C3) and dispensing (pumps B1, B2), as well as hardware and software for signal control and processing.

Description

DESCRIPTION

Milk Standardization Equipment

Object of the invention

The object of the present invention is a novel cream dosing equipment capable of reinjecting in the milk the amount necessary to reach the fat concentration value set in the recipe.

Background of the invention

The milk production plants consist of a tank of origin, in which milk from livestock farmers is stored, a skimmer placed at the exit of the tank of origin which separates the whole milk into two streams: a main one, called the phase heavy, composed of skim milk and other secondary, called light phase, composed of cream extracted from whole milk, then the standardized equipment of milk is placed, which mixes both streams getting a concentration of cream close to the desired . This equipment on the one hand feeds a cream storage tank and a standardized milk storage tank. After the necessary corrections due to inaccuracy in the dosing of these equipments, the pasteurization and packaging line is fed.

The standardization of milk equipment is aimed at dosing cream in milk from the source tank to obtain the desired concentration, which is usually done by means of two or more modulating valves and flow meters that measure the volume of cream to be injected and the volume of milk from the source tank, and regulate the opening and closing of the valves.

The opening and closing of the modulating valves generates interference in the skimmer unit due to pressure variations, which causes erratic operation and variations in the cream concentration in milk. In addition, these standardization equipment requires quality checks by the plant's operators, restricting its use in plants whose operation is in batches.

In summary, current standardization equipment has the following disadvantages:

• Need to check the concentration of fat or cream in the milk by the operators.

• They destabilize the optimal functioning of skimming units.

• The high volume of shrinkage in the cream during the plant's setting.

The present invention advocates a standardization equipment that solves the above drawbacks, is able to work in continuous and batch processes, records and regulates, in real time, the amount of fat or cream contained in standardized milk.

Description of the invention

The milk standardization equipment, which is the object of the present invention, is disposed at the exit of the skimming unit and is fed by the main line that feeds it from the heavy phase and by the secondary line that feeds it from the light phase, and in turn feeds any continuous processing line, sending the remaining cream to the cream storage tank.

The milk standardization equipment, which is the object of the present invention, comprises:

• a frame to which the rest of the elements and devices are fixed;

• a heavy phase input line, or skim milk, from the skimmer unit;

• a light or cream phase input line, coming from the skimmer unit; • a standardized milk outlet line that is homogeneous milk in its fat content, which feeds the standardized milk processing unit, which usually includes pasteurizers, UHT (for its acronym in Ultra High Temperature or ultra high temperature), and fillers , and which has:

- a hydraulic pump,

- a mixer placed downwards from the said hydraulic pump and which has at least six internal baffles placed in a spiral,

- a grease meter (A), preferably by spectrophotometry, arranged descending from said static mixer, which uses four optical analysis methods: transmission, dispersion, fluorescence and refraction. Measuring in the wavelength range between 200 nm and 4000 nm;

• a light phase output line that feeds a cream storage tank, in which a hydraulic dispatch pump is arranged;

• a reinjection output line to a source tank;

• a first mass flowmeter disposed in the heavy phase input line;

• a second mass flow meter arranged in the light phase input line,

• a thermally insulated light phase regulation tank, which has two output lines, the first is the mentioned light phase output line and the second is a light phase injection line that connects to the input line of the heavy phase descending from the mass flowmeter and ascending from the hydraulic pump, and having one or more level sensors, one or more maximum level sensors and one or more temperature sensors of the stored light phase ;

• a third mass flow meter arranged in the light phase injection line; • a dosing pump, arranged in the light phase injection line ascending from the mass flowmeter;

• a bypass system, whose common conduit is disposed in the light phase input line, whose preferred path is connected to the light phase input line descending from the mass flowmeter and ascending from the hydraulic pump , and whose driven track feeds said light phase regulation tank;

• a computer device and its corresponding software that receives information from the first, second and third mass flowmeters and the grease meter and controls the automatic bypass valve and the frequency inverter of the dosing pump.

Brief description of the figures

Figure 1 shows a block diagram of the current state of the art in milk standardization.

Figure 2 shows a scheme of a milk production plant that incorporates milk standardization equipment.

Figure 3 shows a diagram of the milk standardization equipment.

Realizations

Figure 1 shows a block diagram that represents the current process of standardizing milk, in which milk (b) from livestock farmers is stored, skimmed (C), subsequently standardized (D) and stores the standardized milk (E) and the cream (F), after and after the necessary corrections, cream adjustment (G), due to the inaccuracy in the dosing of these equipments, the pasteurization and packaging line (H) . Figure 2 shows a preferred embodiment of the milk standardization equipment, which is the object of the present description, which is placed at the exit of a skimmer unit (2), which separates the whole milk from the source tank ( 1) in two streams: a main one, called heavy phase, composed of skim milk and a secondary one, called light phase, composed of cream extracted from whole milk, and that feeds a storage tank (3) of the light phase and the standardized milk processing unit (4).

The milk standardization equipment (5) includes:

• a frame to which the rest of the elements and devices are fixed;

• a heavy phase input line (LE1), or skim milk, from the skimmer unit;

• a light phase input line (LE2), or cream, from the skimmer unit;

• a standardized milk outlet line (LS1) that feeds the standardized, non-homogenized milk line, continuously and therefore feeds any type of pasteurizer, fillers, etc., and which has:

- a hydraulic pump (B1), which can be of the booster type, single or double screw, lobular or preferably centrifugal,

- a static mixer (M), preferably static, although it could be dynamic, placed downwards from said booster pump and which has at least six internal baffles placed in a spiral. The introduction of a static mixer at the exit of the standardized and homogenized milk outlet line, in terms of its fat content, allows the rapid mixing of the standardized milk, guaranteeing the correct homogenization and eliminating the need for tanks with agitation.

- a grease meter (A), preferably by spectrophotometry, arranged downwards from said static mixer, which uses four optical analysis methods: transmission, dispersion, fluorescence and refraction. Measuring in the wavelength range between 200 nm and 4000 nm;

• a light phase output line (LS2) that feeds the cream storage tank, in which an expedition pump (B3) is arranged, preferably lobular, although it could be single or double screw or centrifugal;

• an injection outlet line (LS3) to the source tank;

a first mass flow meter (C1) disposed in the heavy phase input line;

• a second mass flow meter (C2) arranged in the light phase input line;

• a thermally insulated light phase regulation tank (T), which has two output lines, the first is the mentioned light phase output line (LS2) and the second is a light phase injection line (L1) that it is connected to the heavy phase input line (LE1) downwards from the mass flowmeter (C1) and upwards from the hydraulic pump, and which has one or more level sensors, one or more sensors maximum level and one or more temperature sensors of the stored light phase, which monitor and record the light phase volume and its temperature. The main advantage of the regulation tank is to divide the circuit in two, avoiding any interference in both the operation of the booster pump and the equipment;

• a third mass flow meter (C3) arranged in the light phase injection line (L1);

• a dosing pump (B2), preferably double screw type with a frequency converter, single screw or lobular, arranged in the light phase injection line (L1) ascending from the mass flow meter (C3). Dosing with a pump equipped with a frequency inverter and controlled from the computer device (hardware) with the mass measurements and corrections of the grease meter achieves greater accuracy in dosing, since the injection rate does not depend on the pressures and flow rates of the line. • a bypass system, which may be composed of several valves or preferably a single three-way automatic bypass valve (V), whose common conduit is arranged in the light phase inlet line, whose preferred route is connected to the line for entering the light phase downwards from the mass flowmeter (C1) and upwards from the hydraulic pump, and whose driven path feeds the said light phase regulating tank;

• a computer device and its corresponding software that receives information from the first, second and third mass flowmeters and the grease meter and controls the automatic bypass valve and the frequency inverter. The greatest advance of the equipment is to introduce a control element and record the amount of fat, this computing device recalibrates the cream dosing flow based on the fat values in the final mixture.

During the start-up of the milk production plant, since skimmer units require a certain start-up period, the equipment injects the entire light phase out of range into skim milk and recirculates it into the milk tank. origin, which is achieved with the three-way automatic bypass valve.

The operating point of the skimming unit is determined by calculations of the fat concentration as a function of the density measured by the first mass flowmeter. Once said operating point is reached, the computer device activates the automatic bypass valve giving way to the light phase to the regulating tank. This regulation tank makes the skimming process independent of the injection process and / or deflection of the excess light phase, avoiding interference between the two. The automatic bypass valve also performs a safety function, since in case of failure of the hydraulic pump and / or grease out of range, the equipment returns to the recirculation position, until the optimum operating parameters are reached.

Once the start-up of the equipment is finished, in the operation in operation regime Both the cream coming from the skimmer unit and the skim milk are counted and analyzed by the first and second mass flowmeters and the computing device records the concentrations and flows of heavy phase and light phase that reach the equipment.

With the data of the second mass flowmeter, the concentration of fat in the light phase stored in the regulation tank is calculated, adjusting the light phase dosage through the injection line by means of the third mass flow meter.

Once the mixture is done, it passes through the static mixer, which homogenizes the heavy phase and light phase mixture before reaching the fat meter, which has a double function: check and record the concentration of fat in the milk and recalibrate the light phase dosage based on the measured results.

In addition, the equipment has a hydraulic pump capable of isolating the installation downstream from the installation upstream, eliminating any interference in the dosage due to pressure variations.

Claims

1.- Standardization equipment for milk, of those that are disposed between, on the one hand, the skimming unit and, on the other hand, the standardized milk processing unit and the cream storage tank, characterized in that it comprises:

• a frame to which the rest of the elements and devices are fixed;

• a heavy phase input line (LE1), or skim milk, from the skimmer unit;

• a light phase input line (LE2), or cream, from the skimmer unit;

• a standardized milk outlet line (LS1) that feeds the standardized milk processing unit that has:

- a hydraulic pump (B1),

- a mixer (M) disposed downwardly from said hydraulic pump (B1) and which has at least six internal baffles placed in a spiral,

- a grease meter (A) disposed downwardly from said mixer (M);

• a light phase output line (LS2) that feeds a cream storage tank, in which an expedition hydraulic pump (B3) is arranged and can be screw type (single or double), centrifugal or preferably lobular.

• a reinjection output line (LS3) to a source tank;

• a first mass flow meter (C1) disposed in the heavy phase input line (LE1);

• a second mass flowmeter (C2) arranged in the light phase input line (LE2),

• a thermally insulated light phase regulation tank (T), which has two output lines, the first is the mentioned light phase output line (L7 = LS2) and the second is a phase injection line (L8) light which is connected to the heavy phase input line (LE1) downwards from the mass flowmeter (C1) and upwards from the hydraulic pump (B1), and which has one or more level sensors, one or more maximum level sensors and one or more temperature sensors of the stored light phase;

• a third mass flow meter (C3) arranged in the light phase injection line (L8);

• a dosing pump (B2), arranged in the light phase injection line (L8) ascending from the mass flow meter (C3);

• a shunt system, whose common conduit is disposed in the light phase input line, whose preferred path is connected to the light phase input line downward from the mass flowmeter (C1) and upwardly from the hydraulic pump (B1), and whose driven path feeds the said light phase regulating tank;

• a computer device (hardware) and its corresponding computer program (software) that receives information from the first, second and third mass flowmeters and the grease meter and controls the automatic bypass valve and the frequency variator of the dosing pump.

2. Milk standardization equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that the hydraulic pump (B1) has the function of a booster pump.

3. Milk standardization equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that the hydraulic pump (B1) is a centrifugal hydraulic pump.

4 - Standard milk equipment according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the mixer (M) is dynamic.

5. Standard milk equipment, according to any of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the mixer (M) is static.

6. Standard milk equipment, according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the hydraulic expedition pump (B3) is of the lobular type.

7. Standard milk equipment, according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is composed of a single automatic three-way bypass valve (V).

8. Standard milk equipment, according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the hydraulic expedition pump (B2) is of the double screw type.

9. Standard milk equipment according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the flow meters (C1, C2 and C3) are of the mass type.

10. Standard milk equipment according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the fat meter (A) performs the measurement by spectrophotometry.