Pasteurization tunnel and pasteurization method for beverage packs

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9894924-B2
Application number	US-201313945118-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 18, 2013
Priority date	Jul 23, 2012
Publication date	Feb 20, 2018
Grant date	Feb 20, 2018

Abstract

A pasteurization tunnel and a method for pasteurizing beverage packs are described, wherein the beverage packs are conveyed on at least two decks lying one upon the other and sprayed with a heated spraying liquid from spraying pipes extending each transversely to the conveying direction of the beverage packs. According to the invention, the spraying liquid is guided through the spraying pipes of the one deck into the spraying pipes of the other deck. Thereby, the maintenance efforts for removing deposits in sections of the spraying pipes where the flow is weak can be reduced.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A pasteurization tunnel for pasteurizing beverage packs, comprising at least one first and one second deck which are situated one upon the other and each comprise a conveyor for the beverage packs and a plurality of spraying pipes with nozzles for spraying the beverage packs, the spraying pipes extending transversely to the conveying direction of the conveyors, and the spraying pipes of the first deck being fluidically connected in series with the spraying pipes of the second deck to guide a spraying liquid through the first deck to the second deck, where an outlet section of at least one spraying pipe of the first deck is directly connected to an inlet section of at least one spraying pipe of the second deck, and wherein the spraying pipes of the first deck are connected with the spraying pipes of the second deck by means of one connection conduit each in series connection, a volume flow of the spraying liquid in the outlet section of the first spraying pipe and in the inlet section of the serially connected second spraying pipe being identical and corresponding to the volume flow through the connection conduit in between the first deck and the second deck.

2. The pasteurization tunnel according to claim 1 , wherein a conduit cross-section of the spraying pipes connected in series is larger in the first deck than in the second deck.

3. The pasteurization tunnel according to claim 1 , wherein several series connections between the spraying pipes of the first and second decks are provided along the conveying direction.

4. The pasteurization tunnel according to claim 1 , wherein the second deck is situated above the first deck.

5. The pasteurization tunnel according to claim 1 , wherein the number of nozzles per spraying pipe is higher in the respective upper deck than in the respective lower deck.

6. The pasteurization tunnel according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of a number of nozzles per spraying pipe provided in the first deck differs from a number of nozzles per spraying pipe provided in the second deck, or distances between the nozzles of the first and the second decks differ from each other to compensate for a geodetic pressure differential between the first and the second decks.

7. The pasteurization tunnel according to claim 1 , and at least one inspection port provided in the region of the second deck for visual spray inspection.

8. The pasteurization tunnel according to claim 1 , wherein the spraying pipes of the second deck comprise, at their rear end seen in the direction of flow, an access opening accessible from outside, provided in a roof region of the pasteurization tunnel and closed during operation of the pasteurization tunnel.

9. The pasteurization tunnel according to claim 1 , and at least one further deck situated between the first and the second decks whose spraying pipes are inserted in series.

10. The pasteurization tunnel according to claim 1 , wherein the mean flow rate in the spraying pipes is not higher than 5 m/s.

11. The pasteurization tunnel according to claim 1 , wherein the mean flow rate in the spraying pipes between the at least one first deck and the at least one second deck does not differ from each other by more than 20%.

12. The pasteurization tunnel according to claim 1 , wherein the cross-sections of the spraying pipes are adapted to match the respective dynamic pressures caused by the spraying liquid at the nozzles of the at least one first deck and the at least one second deck.

13. The pasteurization tunnel according to claim 3 , and wherein exactly one spraying pipe each of the first deck is connected with exactly one spraying pipe of the second deck.

14. The pasteurization tunnel according to claim 6 , and wherein the pouring amount of the spraying liquid each discharged from the individual spraying pipes does not deviate from a mean value of the pouring amount across all spraying pipes by more than 10%.

15. The pasteurization tunnel according to claim 6 , and wherein the pouring amount of the spraying liquid each discharged from the individual spraying pipes does not deviate from a mean value of the pouring amount across all spraying pipes by more than 5%.

16. The pasteurization tunnel according to claim 8 , wherein the access opening is downstream of the last nozzle to be reached by the flow in the last runnings of the flow.

17. The pasteurization tunnel according to claim 10 , wherein the mean flow rate is not higher than 4 m/s.

18. The pasteurization tunnel according to claim 11 , wherein the mean flow rate in the spraying pipes between the at least one first deck and the at least one second deck does not differ from each other by more than 10%.

19. A pasteurization tunnel for pasteurizing beverage packs, comprising at least one first deck and one second deck which are situated one upon the other and each comprise a conveyor for the beverage packs and a plurality of spraying pipes with nozzles for spraying the beverage packs, the spraying pipes extending transversely to the conveying direction of the conveyors, and the spraying pipes of the first deck being fluidically connected in series with the spraying pipes of the second deck to guide a spraying liquid through the first deck to the second deck, where an outlet section of at least one spraying pipe of the first deck is directly connected to an inlet section of at least one spraying pipe of the second deck, groups of two or three spraying pipes of the first deck, that are arranged one next to the other at the outlet side in a parallel connection, being connected by means of one common connection conduit each to the second deck where the connection conduit branches to an equal number of spraying pipes in parallel for each group.

Assignees

• Krones Ag

Inventors

• Krause Hans Joachim

Classifications

• A23L3/04

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• A23L3/02

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• A23L3/001 Primary

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• A23B2/22

  with packages on endless chain or band conveyors {(with packages moving on the spot while being transported A23B2/203)} · CPC title

• A23B2/20

  by heating materials in packages which are progressively transported, continuously or stepwise, through the apparatus · CPC title