WO2024052823A1 - Recipient auto-chauffant pour produits alimentaires - Google Patents

Recipient auto-chauffant pour produits alimentaires Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2024052823A1
WO2024052823A1 PCT/IB2023/058801 IB2023058801W WO2024052823A1 WO 2024052823 A1 WO2024052823 A1 WO 2024052823A1 IB 2023058801 W IB2023058801 W IB 2023058801W WO 2024052823 A1 WO2024052823 A1 WO 2024052823A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
container
self
layer
compartment
cover
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/IB2023/058801
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Stefano MONTELLANICO
Gabriele TEOFILATTO
Original Assignee
Montellanico Stefano
Teofilatto Gabriele
Priority date (The priority date 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 date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Montellanico Stefano, Teofilatto Gabriele filed Critical Montellanico Stefano
Publication of WO2024052823A1 publication Critical patent/WO2024052823A1/fr

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Classifications

    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
    • A47J—KITCHEN EQUIPMENT; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; APPARATUS FOR MAKING BEVERAGES
    • A47J36/00—Parts, details or accessories of cooking-vessels
    • A47J36/24—Warming devices
    • A47J36/28—Warming devices generating the heat by exothermic reactions, e.g. heat released by the contact of unslaked lime with water
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C09—DYES; PAINTS; POLISHES; NATURAL RESINS; ADHESIVES; COMPOSITIONS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; APPLICATIONS OF MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • C09K—MATERIALS FOR MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATIONS, NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE
    • C09K5/00—Heat-transfer, heat-exchange or heat-storage materials, e.g. refrigerants; Materials for the production of heat or cold by chemical reactions other than by combustion
    • C09K5/16—Materials undergoing chemical reactions when used
    • C09K5/18—Non-reversible chemical reactions

Definitions

  • the present patent application for invention refers in general to the technical field of items for daily use and in particular to that of self-heating food containers.
  • the invention is applicable to any field, where such a type of invention can be advantageously used, but preferably this relates to the field of disposable tableware.
  • the heat supply is ensured extemporaneously by chemical substances contained in at least a gap of the container itself and which are capable of producing an exothermic reaction at a controlled speed.
  • two or more reagents are initially separated by an unbreakable partition in the container and when heat must be generated, the partition is broken to allow the reagents to mix, thus creating an exothermic reaction for heat generation.
  • the reactants employed to generate heat include at least a solid material, typically calcium oxide, and a liquid material such as water, the reaction of which forms calcium hydroxide.
  • the background art regarding self-heating food containers has many shortcomings.
  • the formation of calcium hydroxide if on the one hand makes the exothermic reaction particularly effective, on the other hand presents a whole series of drawbacks, which make the embodiments particularly disadvantageous.
  • the first drawback which can be highlighted in the background art consists in carrying out a highly exothermic reaction created by the hydration of calcium chloride.
  • Many technical documents tend to minimize this drawback by using poorly conductive materials, capable on the one hand of prolonging and stabilizing the heat produced and on the other of preventing the users' hands from burning.
  • Another drawback lies in the fact that the production, use and disposal of current doublecompartment self-heating containers with calcium oxide and water therein is highly polluting for the environment. Firstly, the production of calcium oxide is a process which requires a lot of energy and is thus not very environmentally friendly with current energy needs. Secondly, a further disadvantage instead lies in the fact that the self-heating containers conceived in this manner are difficult to recover and difficult to dispose of, precisely due to their intrinsic conformation and the content of calcium hydroxide therein, which makes the product exclusively disposable in a hazardous waste disposal center.
  • a further drawback consists in the fact that said self-heating containers, precisely because of the chemical risk associated with the reagents contained, are limited for use in many environments such as, for example, on aircraft and which, as is easily understandable, would represent the ideal places where such a type of product would be advantageously used.
  • said first container comprises the heat engine of the creation while the second container which can be fitted into the first consists of structured walls, so as to effectively modulate the heat produced by the first container and to contain the food product intended to be heated.
  • the innovative concept underlying the present invention consists in envisaging that both said containers can be reused multiple times, carrying out a simple regeneration in an electric oven for the first container and a common effective dish-washing for the second container.
  • the first container contains, in a gap made in the walls, a dehydrated and easily available substance, intended to be activated with water, which can be added using a common syringe when needed. Instead, in a sealed gap, made in the walls of the second container, there is a eutectic fluid providing a series of thermal kinetic benefits, as reported below.
  • an excellent chemical reagent adapted to be contained in the gap of the first container, capable of reacting with water and thus producing a balanced exothermic chemical reaction, is represented by zeolite, which is a natural or synthetic chemical without any chemical risk, so much so that it can also be used as a low- cost food supplement.
  • Another particularly advantageous feature is that of using a eutectic fluid contained in the gap of the second container, capable of optimizing the thermal performance carried out by the zeolite, as said eutectic fluid is endowed with interesting characteristics in terms of thermal conductivity and thermal capacity.
  • Said eutectic fluid consists of water and a mixture consisting of equimolar quantities of citric acid and beta-alanine which, as is known, represent constituents of the human diet and are therefore chemical substances totally free from chemical risks of any kind.
  • this solution according to the present invention forms an optimal compromise, as on the one hand it uses substances free of any chemical risk and on the other low-cost and perfectly eco-compatible substances; therefore, overall it is considered an inventive product having a whole series of advantages with respect to those present in the background art.
  • the use of said inventive product is totally free of chemical risks and can thus be carried out even in those places where common products cannot be used, consider aircraft where the known products were particularly disadvantageous due to the associated chemical risks.
  • Another favorable characteristic lies in the fact that the inventive product is totally eco-compatible and has a low production cost, on the one hand due to the possibility of being reused and on the other on the basis of the type of chemical substances used.
  • a further objective is to propose a self-heating container for food products, which can be manufactured on an industrial scale and whose components are of a standard type and perfectly available on the market.
  • inventive self-heating container for food products it should be noted that these are purely indicative and not restrictive of the invention, however, the dimensions can be expressed and overall summarized as regards the external dimensions in a range between 138 mm * 115 mm * 43 mm and 168 mm * 141 mm * 53 mm and more preferably equal to 53 mm x 128 mm x 48 mm and as regards the internal capacity in a range between 405 cm 2 and 495 cm 2 and more preferably equal to 450 cm 2 .
  • FIGURE 1 is a top perspective view of the components of the inventive self-heating container
  • FIGURE 2 is a bottom perspective view of the components of the inventive self-heating container
  • FIGURE 3 is a top perspective view sectioned from a front plane of the components of the inventive self-heating container
  • FIGURE 4 shows the graph showing the thermal conductivity of the zeolite at 50°C (A) and 100°C (B);
  • FIGURE 5 shows the graph showing the thermal kinetics of the zeolite
  • FIGURE 6A-B show the graphs showing the comparative kinetics of three different chemical systems
  • FIGURE 7A-B show the graphs showing the thermal conductivities of water and eutectic fluid
  • FIGURE 8 shows the graph showing the thermal kinetics detected in the pre-cooked food at the maximum distance from the walls of the prototype container with and without eutectic
  • - FIGURE 9 shows the graph showing the thermal kinetics detected in the pre-cooked food near the walls of the prototype container with and without eutectic.
  • a self-heating container for food products which as shown in Figs. 1-3, comprises an external container 100, an inner container 200 and a cover 300 consisting of composite material with different layers.
  • said external container 100 forms the heat engine of the entire system
  • said inner container 200 forms on one hand the collector of food products and on the other, by means of the walls, creates a modulation of the thermal conductivity of the heat produced by the heat engine and lastly said cover 300 is connected to said external container 100 so as to create a hermetic seal of the same inner container 200 in the constrained state.
  • Said inner container 200 is adapted to fit inside the external container 100, so as to be stably coupled thereto and to be released only in the face of an external force directed vertically upwards.
  • said external container 100 has the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped consisting of an open upper base, a lower base 180 (Fig. 2) and by four lateral faces 190 forming the walls. Even more specifically, as depicted in Fig. 3, said lateral faces 190 and said lower base 180 are formed by an outer layer 110 comprising a polyester film, preferably of the MYLAR type, which offers great resistance to traction, tears and impacts.
  • An insulating layer 120 adheres to said outer layer 110 of said lateral faces 190 and to said lower base 180, the insulating layer consisting of a polystyrene sheet, of the EPS type which, as is known, has insulating properties, allowing it to provide a barrier to the escape of heat and at the same time providing rigidity and lightness, which make it suitable for profitable application.
  • the inner face of said insulating layer 120 is in turn covered by a layer 130 formed by aluminum foil adhered thereto. Referring only to the lateral faces 190, inside said layer 130 there is a further inner layer 140 formed by aluminum foil.
  • the volume comprised between said layer 130 and said inner layer 140 forms a compartment 150, which is partially occupied by a chemical compound in the dehydrated state, capable of reacting with water and creating a highly exothermic reaction.
  • Said chemical compound is zeolite which, as is known to those skilled in the art, has a peculiar reversible property of dehydration, giving rise to an endothermic process, and of re-hydration, giving rise to an exothermic process.
  • the quantity of water suitable for the exothermic hydration process is introduced into the compartment 150 by means of a common syringe, filled with the required quantity of water, through at least an orifice made above said compartment 150 and occupied by a vapor permeable valve 500.
  • said inner container 200 has the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped consisting of an open upper base, a lower base 280 and four lateral faces 290 forming the walls.
  • said lateral faces 290 and said lower base 280 consist of an outer layer 210 and an inner layer 230, in which both said layers are formed by aluminum foil.
  • the volume between said outer layer 210 and said inner layer 230 forms a sealed compartment 250, occupied by a eutectic fluid.
  • said eutectic fluid comprises a mixture consisting of equimolar quantities of citric acid and beta-alanine and 83.5% by weight of water with respect to the aforementioned mixture.
  • the volume between said outer layer 210 and said inner layer 230 of said lower base 280 forms an insulating compartment 260 which is occupied by a polystyrene (EPS) sheet.
  • EPS polystyrene
  • said cover 300 with particular reference to Figs. 1-3, this has a quadrangular shape adapted to close the upper opening of the external container 100 with the inner container 200 fitted inside. As shown in Fig.
  • said cover 300 is formed by an insulating element 350 consisting of a polystyrene (EPS) sheet, whose upper face is covered by an outer layer 310 adhered thereto and formed by a polyester film, of the MYLAR type and in which an inner layer 330 formed by an aluminum foil is adhered to the lower face of said insulating element 350.
  • the lower peripheral portion of said cover 300 as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, lacks said inner layer 330 and forms the insulating portion 360, which terminates near the upper face of the aforementioned compartment 150, with which it enters in correspondence in the closed condition of the inventive self-heating container.
  • said closure system 400 consists of at least two clips positioned externally on at least a pair of opposite lateral faces 190 and so that said closure system 400 is adapted to engage and constrain two retaining means 410 in the closed condition (Fig. 1), placed above the outer layer 310 of said cover 300.
  • a further aspect aside from all the technical solutions described so far, but of particular relevance in the embodiment of the invention, relating to the advantageous concept according to which said inventive self-heating container can be inventively reused multiple times, envisages a recovery process, operating a simple regeneration process for the external container 100 by dehydrating the zeolite in an electric oven at 200°C for at least 2 hours and a common effective dish-washing for the inner container 200 and for the relative cover 300. Also paying attention to the chemical characteristics of all the chemical constituents of the reaction, which, as is known, have an irrelevant if not zero chemical risk, it is appropriate to underline that the present inventive device can also be used in sites where the existing containers in the background art cannot be used, as for example on aircraft where this specific implementation appears particularly advantageous.
  • thermodynamic data linked to the substances which can be used for the various exothermic systems the quantitative ratios necessary for each system as well as their thermodynamic characteristics.
  • Table 1 shows the diffusivity and thermal conductivity of zeolite.
  • the thermal conductivity of dehydrated zeolite is 1.2 W/m K, while wet is 0.21 W/m K.
  • the thermal conductivity of zeolite varies as a function of the water absorbed and the temperature.
  • Another useful aspect consists in highlighting the thermal kinetics of zeolite.
  • Fig. 5 we can see the evolution of the TC as a function of time (t) in the exothermic process due to the hydration heat.
  • the granules have an average density of 0.7 - 0.8 g/ml and that 28.34 g of zeolite will be used, this means a volume which can fluctuate between 35.42 cm 3 and 40.48 cm 3 .
  • the water that must be absorbed by the zeolite has a volume equal to 16 cm 3 .
  • a total volume between 52 cm 3 and 57 cm 3 can be deduced.
  • the synthetic zeolite used has such characteristics, as it has a porosity of 3 angstrom, contains the cation K, has a Si/Al ratio of 1 and is previously dehydrated at 500°C.
  • Such zeolite in the quantities envisaged, i.e.:
  • 28.34 g of zeolite + 16 g H2O is capable of causing a Delta TC equal to 69°C, that is, if starting from a temperature of 15°C, 84°C can be reached following the hydration heat.
  • the data is to be considered experimental data and not merely theoretical.
  • reaction heat E is equal to:
  • the eutectic fluid is shown to be a 40 to 50% better conductor of water.
  • Fig. 8 shows a dynamic analysis of the temperature in the center of the pre-cooked food at the maximum distance from the walls. We can see how in the center of the food, at the point farthest from the walls, the increase in TC in the two systems, with or without the gap where the eutectic fluid is contained, does not show any particular significant differences at the end of 300 sec (5 min), all reaching a temperature range between 38°C and 41 °C.
  • Fig. 9 shows a dynamic analysis of the temperature in the center of the pre-cooked food at a distance close to the walls.
  • the gap with the eutectic fluid shows its effectiveness by showing an interesting characteristic, that is, that the thermal conductivity increases with increasing temperature following the change in viscosity to which it is related.
  • This intrinsic phenomenon is favorable, as it shows an ability to accumulate heat in the early stages and later (given its electrical conductivity) to deliver it to the system.
  • the use of the eutectic mixture as a fluid present in the gap allows an innovative use for self-heating tray systems as:

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  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
  • General Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
  • Thermal Sciences (AREA)
  • Materials Engineering (AREA)
  • Organic Chemistry (AREA)
  • Food Science & Technology (AREA)
  • Cookers (AREA)

Abstract

La présente invention concerne un récipient auto-chauffant pour produits alimentaires constitué d'un récipient externe (100), d'un récipient interne (200) et d'un couvercle (300) constitué d'un matériau composite avec différentes couches comprenant des films de polyester de type MYLAR, des feuilles de polystyrène de type EPS et des feuilles d'aluminium, ledit récipient externe (100) logeant à l'intérieur ledit récipient interne (200) et représentant le moteur thermique du système au moyen de la réaction exothermique générée par l'hydratation de la zéolite contenue dans un compartiment (150) obtenu dans les faces latérales (190), dans lequel ledit récipient interne (200) contient un mélange eutectique d'acide citrique et de bêta-alanine dans un compartiment étanche (250) obtenu dans les faces latérales (290) et ledit couvercle (300) étant relié audit récipient externe (100) au moyen d'un système de fermeture (400) de façon à créer un joint hermétique du récipient interne (200) dans l'état contraint.
PCT/IB2023/058801 2022-09-07 2023-09-06 Recipient auto-chauffant pour produits alimentaires WO2024052823A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
IT102022000018234 2022-09-07
IT102022000018234A IT202200018234A1 (it) 2022-09-07 2022-09-07 Contenitore autoriscaldante per prodotti alimentari

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WO2024052823A1 true WO2024052823A1 (fr) 2024-03-14

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WO (1) WO2024052823A1 (fr)

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20140261382A1 (en) * 2013-03-15 2014-09-18 Rodney M. Shields Self-Warming Container
US9851125B2 (en) * 2012-09-19 2017-12-26 Uwe Arnold Transportable device for heating foodstuffs, and a transportable heating element
US9863687B1 (en) * 2014-08-14 2018-01-09 University Of South Florida Self-heating apparatus and method of customizing a time-temperature profile thereof

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US9851125B2 (en) * 2012-09-19 2017-12-26 Uwe Arnold Transportable device for heating foodstuffs, and a transportable heating element
US20140261382A1 (en) * 2013-03-15 2014-09-18 Rodney M. Shields Self-Warming Container
US9863687B1 (en) * 2014-08-14 2018-01-09 University Of South Florida Self-heating apparatus and method of customizing a time-temperature profile thereof

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IT202200018234A1 (it) 2024-03-07

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