Evaluation and debugging method of sterile pipeline for food and beverage processing

Through the integrated intelligent evaluation and dynamic debugging system of sterile pipelines with gas disturbance leakage detection, particle behavior recognition, simulated liquid labeling verification, rapid microbial culture and AI-assisted prediction, the problems of insufficient detection sensitivity and lag in traditional methods are solved, and efficient intelligent evaluation and debugging of sterile pipelines are achieved, which significantly improves production efficiency and sterile guarantee level.

CN120132021AActive Publication Date: 2025-06-13SHANGHAI DONGLUO PURIFICATION TECH CO LTD

Patent Information

Application Number
CN202510631267.9
Authority / Receiving Office
CN · China
Patent Type
Applications(China)
Current Assignee / Owner
Filing Date
2025-05-16
Publication Date
2025-06-13
Estimated Expiration
2045-05-16

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

The existing sterile pipeline evaluation and debugging methods have problems such as insufficient detection sensitivity, lag in response, high manual dependence, uncontrollable debugging and poor closed-loop system, which cannot meet the needs of modern food industry for high speed, high precision and intelligence.

Method used

An intelligent evaluation and dynamic debugging system of sterile pipelines integrating gas disturbance leakage detection, particle behavior recognition, simulated liquid labeling verification, rapid microbial culture, AI-assisted prediction, and local sterilization linkage is adopted. Through micro-positive pressure environment, micro-pressure difference sensing, dynamic particle imaging, simulated liquid labeling and AI-assisted analysis, high sensitivity identification and quantitative evaluation of trace leakage, flow blind spots and microbial contamination are achieved.

Benefits of technology

It significantly improves the level of sterility guarantee and production efficiency, realizes high-sensitivity positioning and quantitative evaluation of micro leakage points, accurately identify flow dead corners and pollution accumulation areas in the pipeline, predicts the risk of microbial pollution in advance and triggers local sterilization, reduces manual intervention, and improves system stability.

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Abstract

The invention relates to a method for evaluating and debugging a sterile pipeline for food and beverage processing, which comprises the following steps of: introducing standardized sterile gas into a closed pipeline system to establish a micro-positive pressure environment; detecting a pressure change curve of each node of the system in real time by using a micro-differential pressure sensing module; calculating the position and the size of a trace leakage point; recording the motion trail of the particles in the pipeline by using a dynamic particle imaging system PIV; flow dead angles are identified through trajectory analysis, and the potential pollution accumulation area of the retention area marks the pollution accumulation probability of each section of pipeline in a quantitative mode; preparing simulation liquid, and adding biomarker particles to enable the viscosity and the fluidity of the target beverage to be close to those of the target beverage; according to the identified potential pollution accumulation area, local directional pouring is carried out; full-process automatic data acquisition, model judgment and debugging instruction issuing can be realized, manual intervention is greatly reduced, the system stability is improved, and the system is suitable for various food and beverage production scenes.
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Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of beverage processing, and particularly to a method for evaluating and commissioning a sterilized pipeline for food and beverage processing. Background Art

[0002] Currently, in the food and beverage processing industry, the evaluation and commissioning of sterilized pipeline systems generally adopt traditional methods such as static pressure maintenance testing, regular disassembly and inspection, colony sampling and culturing after full-line CIP (Cleaning in Place) and SIP (Sterilization in Place). Although these methods have established basic industry standards in the early stage, under the background of the modern food industry's demand for high speed, high precision, and intelligence, they have exposed many unavoidable technical shortcomings and application drawbacks, specifically reflected in insufficient detection sensitivity, response lag, high dependence on manual labor, uncontrollable commissioning, and poor system closed-loop. First, the traditional static pressure maintenance method mainly judges whether there is leakage by recording the pressure drop amplitude within a long time after pressurizing and sealing the pipeline system. This method can only provide a macroscopic judgment of "leakage or no leakage" in essence, and cannot accurately locate the specific position or scale of the leakage. It shows extremely low sensitivity to trace-level leakage in the pipeline, especially in high-humidity or micro-crack areas, often resulting in the problem of "the system detects no leakage, but the product batches are repeatedly contaminated", indicating that it can no longer meet the requirements for micro-leakage discrimination in high-cleanliness scenarios. Second, the traditional evaluation process highly depends on manual operation and human experience judgment. For example, colony culturing requires the operator to complete sample collection, inoculation, constant-temperature culturing and visual counting after 24 hours. It is time-consuming, interfered with, and has large errors, and cannot achieve early identification and predictive control of the pollution trend. Especially in a high-speed production line or an environment with alternating operation of multiple product categories, it is extremely easy to form a response lag, resulting in difficult pollution traceability.

[0003] Thirdly, the traditional evaluation system lacks the integration ability with modern information systems, unable to achieve online data collection, real-time processing, and intelligent judgment. The evaluation results often show static single-time characteristics, lacking dynamic change records, and it is also difficult to form a closed-loop feedback during the debugging process. For example, although the whole line can be sterilized after the colony exceeds the standard in a certain section, it is impossible to form a quantitative evaluation on whether the sterilization effectiveness matches the pollution source and whether it reaches the key nodes, resulting in the debugging process still relying on the redundant method of "experience + full coverage", causing a large amount of energy and time waste. In addition, for complex internal structures of pipelines such as elbows, reducers, dead ends, etc., it is difficult to accurately analyze the pollution accumulation risk in the fluid state by traditional means. Due to the lack of effective flow visualization tools and quantitative tracking mechanisms, the cleaning of dead ends, the identification of cross-contamination paths, etc. have long relied on empirical settings and conventional conservative schemes, ultimately forming a polarization problem of excessive cleaning or insufficient coverage. In terms of microbial pollution risk control, traditional methods generally use the culture results of end samples as the basis for compliance, which is completely a "result-oriented" control rather than a "process prediction" type of debugging. This means that once a colony exceeds the standard, it often indicates that the pollution has occurred and the debugging lags behind the actual problem, seriously affecting the product consistency and market compliance ability of enterprises. Furthermore, in modern high-precision and high-automation beverage processing lines, production switches are frequent and batches are short, and the time cost and labor cost of traditional debugging methods increase sharply. A round of debugging may take several hours or even half a day, greatly reducing the flexibility and operation efficiency of the production line. In addition, most of these traditional methods cannot automatically archive and reuse historical data, lacking traceability, analytical, and systematic support, unable to achieve a standardized debugging process, and not suitable for intelligent deployment or industrial Internet of Things expansion in a large-scale production environment. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The object of the present invention is to provide a method for evaluating and debugging aseptic pipelines for food and beverage processing, so as to solve some of the drawbacks and deficiencies pointed out in the background technology.

[0005] The technical solution adopted by the present invention to solve the above technical problems is as follows: A method for evaluating and debugging aseptic pipelines for food and beverage processing, including: introducing a standardized sterile gas into a closed pipeline system to establish a slightly positive pressure environment; using a differential pressure sensing module to detect the pressure change curve of each node in the system in real time; calculating the position and size of the micro-leakage points according to the differential pressure change rate formula. On the basis of confirming no leakage, introducing calibrated particle sizes of particles including polystyrene microspheres; using a dynamic particle imaging system to record the movement trajectories of the particles in the pipeline; through trajectory analysis, identifying flow dead ends, potential pollution accumulation areas in stagnant areas, and quantitatively marking the pollution accumulation probability of each section of the pipeline. Prepare a simulation liquid, add biomarker microparticles including latex particles encapsulated with fluorescent dyes, and make it close to the viscosity and fluidity of the target beverage; according to the identified potential pollution accumulation areas, perform local directional perfusion; Collect the effluent sample of the local simulation liquid for rapid microbial culture; combine with an AI-assisted growth curve prediction system, and calculate the potential reproduction risk index based on the initial colony growth rate; for the reproduction risk index value area, trigger a local sterilization instruction.

[0006] Furthermore, the method for calculating the position and size of the trace leakage point includes: In a closed pipeline system, create a controllable slightly positive pressure environment, form a unidirectional outward diffusion flow at the potential leakage point, introduce sterile gas filtered through particles, and at the same time adopt a flow management strategy with controlled perturbation. By setting the initial flow rate and introducing time-increasing perturbations, construct a dynamically changing gas injection mode. The gas flow rate change is described as: ; Where: represents the sterile gas flow rate at time , is the initial gas injection flow rate, is the flow rate perturbation adjustment coefficient, used to control the amplitude of the flow rate increase rate, is the time variable after the start of gas injection, is the non-linear increasing exponent, used to adjust the curve shape of the gas flow rate increase.

[0007] Furthermore, the method for calculating the position and size of the trace leakage point includes: Distributively install micro differential pressure sensing modules at key nodes including bends and turns inside the pipeline system, collect high-frequency data on the changes of local pressure at each node over time and position, use the spatial gradient and time acceleration characteristics of the pressure changes between nodes for multi-dimensional analysis, and construct a dynamic pressure change function. The local pressure change relationship can be described as: ; Where: represents the local pressure change rate at position and time , represents the instantaneous pressure value of position and time, represents the first-order derivative of pressure along the spatial direction, that is, the change rate of pressure at different positions, represents the second-order change rate of pressure with respect to time, that is, the acceleration of pressure change with respect to time, is a sensitivity adjustment factor for the second derivative of time, which improves the ability to capture the response to minute transient leaks by moderately amplifying the time acceleration component.

[0008] Further, the method for calculating the position and size of the inferred trace leakage point includes: based on the pressure change curves collected by each sensor node, establishing an integral evaluation system for the asynchronous phenomenon of pressure change between nodes, quantifying the minute leakage risks at different positions, and calculating the cumulative value of potential leakage risks by integrating the leakage signs over time.

[0009] Further, the method for calculating the potential reproduction risk index includes: Collecting the simulated liquid outflow samples at each node of the pipeline for rapid microbial culture; the culture process uses a temperature-controlled rapid culture system, supplemented by an imaging device to periodically collect colony images to obtain the early growth behavior data of the colonies; by identifying the dynamic changes in the initial colony number growth, constructing a growth trend function to fit the initial growth rate; the growth trend model is defined as: ; Where: represents the total number of colonies at time $t$; is the initial number of colonies; is the quantity growth response coefficient, with the unit of dimensionless coefficient, used to control the response speed of the colony number growth to the time change; is the perturbation gain factor, determining the reference amplitude of the growth acceleration; is the culture time; is the non-linear growth index, used to adjust the non-linear steepness of the early growth curve.

[0010] Further, the method for calculating the potential reproduction risk index includes: Tracking the quantity growth, extracting the area and morphological expansion of the colonies in real time, extracting the colony edge contours through image processing algorithms and calculating the radius changes of each colony; based on the average expansion behavior of all colonies, defining the local expansion potential energy function as follows: ; Where: represents the average expansion speed of the local colonies per unit time, used to measure the activity degree of morphological expansion; is the expansion weight adjustment coefficient, used to regulate the contribution degree of the area change rate to the risk assessment; is the time the total number of colonies identified at the moment; is the equivalent radius of the $i$-th colony; is the arithmetic mean of the squares of the areas of all colonies; represents the derivative operation with respect to time, extracting the dynamic change of the expansion rate.

[0011] Furthermore, the method for calculating the potential reproduction risk index MGRI includes: Unify the modeling of quantity growth and morphological expansion and conduct risk prediction. Introduce the reproduction risk index, and comprehensively calculate the weighted sum of the colony quantity growth rate and the expansion potential energy per unit time. The constructed risk integral model is: ; Where: : represents the maximum potential reproduction risk index of the target pipeline area within the time interval ; is the weight coefficient of the quantity growth risk, used to adjust the contribution of colony quantity growth to the total risk; is the weight coefficient of the expansion rate risk; represents the change rate of colony quantity with respect to time; represents the power function of the expansion rate, is the risk weighting index, used to enhance the influence of the morphological expansion factor on the total risk value; is the integral symbol, indicating the cumulative risk calculation within the entire culture observation window.

[0012] Advantages of the present invention: This method breaks through the limitations of traditional single static detection means and constructs an intelligent evaluation and dynamic debugging system for aseptic pipelines integrating "gas disturbance leakage detection, particle behavior recognition, simulated liquid marking verification, rapid microbial culture, AI-assisted prediction, and local sterilization linkage", significantly improving the aseptic guarantee level and production efficiency in the food and beverage processing process. First, by introducing a disturbance gas injection model and differential pressure dynamic analysis method, high-sensitivity positioning of micro leakage points and quantitative evaluation of leakage degree are achieved, with the detection sensitivity improved by more than one order of magnitude compared with the traditional static pressure method. Second, using particle visual imaging technology and simulated liquid marking verification, the flow dead corners and pollution accumulation areas in the pipeline are accurately identified, filling the blank of the traditional method for identifying the blind area of internal fluidity risk in the system. Third, by integrating the two-dimensional modeling of the colony number growth curve and morphological expansion dynamics and combining with the maximum growth risk index (MGRI) constructed by the AI system, the future pollution risk trend of the colony can be predicted in the early growth stage of the colony, triggering the local sterilization response mechanism in advance, realizing the transformation from "post-disinfection" to "pre-judgment and active intervention". Finally, this method can realize full-process automatic data collection, model judgment, and debugging instruction issuance, greatly reducing manual intervention, improving system stability, applicable to various food and beverage production scenarios, especially with significant application effects in low-temperature cold chain, high-sugar and high-acid products, or ultra-clean filling environments, and having broad industry promotion value and engineering application prospects. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] Figure 1 It is a flowchart of a method for evaluating and debugging an aseptic pipeline for food and beverage processing according to the present invention; Figure 2 It is a flowchart of a method for calculating the position and size of a micro leakage point according to the present invention; Figure 3 It is a flowchart of a method for calculating the potential growth risk index (MGRI) according to the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0014] The following is a detailed description of the specific implementation manner of the present invention with reference to the drawings.

[0015] Combined with the attached Figure 1, a method for evaluating and debugging aseptic pipelines in food and beverage processing of the present invention, realizes highly sensitive identification of the leakage risk of the aseptic pipeline system by establishing a controlled slightly positive pressure environment; first, when the food and beverage processing pipeline system to be detected is in a fully enclosed state, introduce standardized aseptic gas filtered by high-efficiency particulate filters (such as HEPA), slowly inject it into the pipeline interior, and control the internal gas pressure to be stably maintained at a slightly positive pressure state 10 to 30 mbar higher than the external atmospheric pressure. The purpose of setting this slightly positive pressure is to ensure that in the presence of a small leak, the gas can only slowly escape from the pipeline interior to the outside, thus avoiding the risk of secondary contamination caused by the unsterilized gas from the outside being poured back into the system; at the same time, multiple high-precision differential pressure sensing modules are distributed in the system. These modules can record the pressure change data of each detection node during the gas injection process in real time at a high frequency. Especially during the pressure stabilization stage, by continuously monitoring and plotting the curve trend of pressure change over time, it can be judged whether there is an abnormal pressure drop signal in the system. If there is a small leak near a certain node, the pressure change rate at its location will show a different decline slope from other normal areas; in order to further quantify and locate the leak point, the data analysis model built into the system is based on the differential pressure change rate formula, that is, by comparing and analyzing the pressure curves between different nodes in the spatial and time dimensions, combined with the micro-perturbation flow model and local gas loss behavior, the approximate location and degree of the leak point are deduced, specifically including the estimation of the leak orifice radius and the approximate value of the gas volume leaking per unit time, so as to provide a precise decision-making basis for subsequent local sterilization, structural repair or re-verification operations.

[0016] On the premise that the micro differential pressure method has been completed to confirm that there is no obvious leakage in the pipeline system, further conduct visual fluid analysis on the flow dead corners and micro pollution residue areas inside the system to identify the distribution positions of aseptic hazards; in the pipeline system where a stable slightly positive pressure has been established and the sealing state has been confirmed, inject a flowing medium carrying visually calibrated particles, where the calibrated microparticles used are polystyrene microspheres with stable physical properties. This type of microsphere has a unified particle size range, excellent optical response characteristics, and biocompatibility, and will not chemically react with pipeline materials or residues, thus ensuring that the movement state of the particles during the test truly reflects the hydrodynamic behavior; subsequently, use a dynamic particle imaging system (Particle Image Velocimetry, abbreviated as PIV) to take high-frame-rate pictures of the movement trajectories of the calibrated particles in the fluid. The PIV system is based on the principles of laser illumination and high-speed photography, and can capture the displacement and velocity information of each microsphere changing with time in three-dimensional space. Through image sequence processing algorithms, a particle velocity vector field and a fluid streamline diagram are constructed; the system then identifies the areas where flow stagnation or local turbulence occurs in specific pipeline structures (such as elbows, tees, slow-flow sections) based on the distribution density of the microsphere trajectories, the characteristics of the velocity vector distribution, and the difference in residence time. These areas are usually regarded as high-risk points for pollutant retention and microbial growth; to achieve quantitative expression, the system further calculates the pollution accumulation probability value of each small section of the pipeline based on the cumulative residence probability and local flow velocity decay rate of the particles at different spatial positions, and marks these probabilities on the pipeline structure diagram in the form of a two-dimensional or three-dimensional heat map, finally forming a set of accurate, quantifiable, and visual pollution hazard distribution maps, providing a scientific basis for subsequent targeted cleaning, local sterilization, or structural optimization.

[0017] Targeted verification of potential contamination areas and identification of micro-pollution residues using a biomarker simulation fluid; First, a set of simulation fluids with similar rheological properties are prepared according to the actual physical parameters (such as density, viscosity, surface tension, etc.) of the target food or beverage product. Biomarker particles composed of latex microspheres encapsulated with fluorescent dyes are added to the simulation fluid. These latex particles have good traceability, uniform particle size, and biodegradability. The fluorescent dyes coated on their exterior can emit stable fluorescence signals under the irradiation of a specific wavelength light source, facilitating subsequent trajectory tracking and residue detection. At the same time, the suspension characteristics of the latex particles are consistent with the fluid, ensuring that their particle attachment and retention behaviors during flow can fully simulate those of real products flowing in pipelines; After completing the PIV trajectory analysis of polystyrene microspheres and identifying the structural dead corners or retention areas with pollutant residues in the pipeline, the system performs local directional perfusion operations on these high-risk areas according to the positioning results, that is, through a dedicated switching valve and branch system, the simulation fluid is guided into the identified key areas instead of circulating throughout the system, thus achieving more efficient and targeted local verification; During the perfusion process, the system continuously monitors the residence time and flow state of the simulation fluid in the local pipe section, and analyzes the fluorescence signals remaining on the pipeline wall after perfusion through an optical detection device to judge the degree of particle retention and the trend of biofilm attachment in the local area, thereby realizing the quantitative assessment and high-precision identification of aseptic weak points, compared with the traditional overall circulation method of simulation fluid.

[0018] By combining rapid microbial culture with artificial intelligence-assisted analysis, quantitative assessment and dynamic intervention control of local pollution hazards are achieved; after local directional perfusion of the simulated liquid and residual detection in the retention area are completed, simulated liquid samples from each local liquid outlet are collected and immediately sent into a dedicated rapid microbial culture system for short-cycle incubation. This culture system uses a modified high-sensitivity culture medium and sets a constant temperature condition (such as 32°C ± 2°C), which can prompt early microorganisms to rapidly form recognizable colonies within 4 to 6 hours; during this culture process, the supporting imaging acquisition system will take pictures of the colony growth at fixed time intervals, and the image data is synchronously uploaded to the AI-assisted growth curve prediction system. This system conducts real-time analysis based on the growth models constructed from a large number of known standard microbial samples. By extracting characteristic parameters such as the change trend of colony quantity, the growth rate of average diameter, and the amplitude of area expansion, it identifies the different stages of the current microbial population in the latent period, logarithmic growth period, or plateau period, and further predicts its future reproduction trend and hazard potential; on this basis, the system comprehensively calculates indicators such as growth rate, expansion speed, and density change to obtain the maximum potential reproduction risk index MGRI. This index is a dimensionless evaluation value used to reflect the maximum amplification level of microorganisms in the sample under the most favorable environmental conditions in the future. The higher the value, the greater the risk of local pollution spread; the system sets the MGRI risk threshold as the judgment criterion. Once the MGRI value calculated for a certain section of the sample exceeds this safety limit, that section is determined to be a high-risk pollution area, and immediately a local sterilization instruction is triggered. The control system will accurately call the corresponding pulsed high-temperature steam sterilizer or supercritical carbon dioxide sterilization module according to the location of this section to perform rapid, efficient, and directional disinfection treatment on the target area, preventing pollution from spreading to other pipe sections or production batches, thereby realizing the intelligent, self-closed-loop, and responsive commissioning control of the aseptic pipeline system.

[0019] Example 1: Combined with the attached Figure 2 In this example, on a sterile beverage filling production line of a food enterprise, a SUS304 stainless steel food-grade pipeline system with a total length of about 180 meters is installed, which is used to transport the prepared fruit juice beverage from the mixing tank to multiple filling heads. This pipeline is designed as a fully enclosed aseptic structure and has CIP and SIP cleaning functions. Due to individual colony over-standard situations in recent filling batches, the enterprise decides to conduct a complete aseptic assessment and commissioning of the entire aseptic pipeline system.

[0020] After the system completes CIP cleaning, it enters the aseptic detection stage. First, the closed system is connected to the aseptic gas supply module, and the gas type is 0.22 Sterile air processed by a Class HEPA high-efficiency filter. To ensure that gas at any tiny leakage point during detection can only escape from the inside of the pipeline to the outside, the system maintains the internal pressure at a slightly positive pressure state about 25 mbar above atmospheric pressure. At this time, a dynamic perturbation flow mode is started to inject sterile air into the pipeline, aiming to increase the gas escape rate at the tiny leakage point through perturbation, making its signal easier to be monitored.

[0021] The initial gas injection flow rate is set to , and the system designs a flow perturbation model with hourly increasing, using the function: ; where the set parameters are: , this coefficient is adjusted within the range of 0.01 - 0.05 and is used to reflect the perturbation amplification ability; , its setting range is between 1 - 2, and it is optimized according to the experience of the leakage point response sensitivity; The time variable t is in minutes, and data for continuous testing for 10 minutes is selected for sample analysis.

[0022] Substitute for calculation example: When = 5 min, there is ; That is, at the 5th minute, the gas flow rate has increased from the initial 15 L / min to about 18.25 L / min. This controlled perturbation can significantly enhance the gas escape signal at the leakage port, making it easier for the differential pressure sensing module to capture subtle pressure changes.

[0023] During the entire gas injection process, a total of 12 highly sensitive differential pressure sensing modules are set on the pipeline, with an average layout spacing of about 15 meters, and the measurement frequency is set to 5 times per second. By comparing the real-time pressure curves at each node under the perturbed flow, the system finds that there are abnormal fluctuations in the pressure response curves between the 8th and 9th sensors, showing a locally asynchronous downward trend; further fitting its pressure drop rate model, the system infers that there is a tiny leakage point in this section, approximately between the 120th and 132nd meters of the pipeline.

[0024] To further calculate the leakage size, the system collects the pressure drop rate per unit time in this section and combines it with the change in the total gas flow rate under the perturbation model. It is obtained that under the continuous perturbation, about 0.45 L of gas per minute cannot maintain a stable pressure, and the equivalent leakage aperture is calculated to be a pinhole-like leakage with a diameter of about 0.35 mm. This aperture is far lower than the detection sensitivity lower limit of traditional static pressure testing, but this method can achieve accurate identification through the flow perturbation amplification effect and the local pressure gradient difference.

[0025] Finally, the maintenance personnel dismantled the place and found that a section of the elbow seal was slightly displaced, and there was indeed a pinhole leak. After replacing the seal and re-injecting gas to verify, the pressure changes at all nodes were consistent, the leakage index returned to a safe level, and the system judged that there was no leakage.

[0026] The perturbation gas injection flow model was successfully used After accurately identifying a tiny leak between 120 and 132 meters, the company's technical team initiated the next phase of operations, which was to conduct a detailed quantitative analysis of the leak location and extent based on the spatial-temporal response behavior of pressure changes. In order to improve the accuracy of leak location and the ability to capture dynamic responses, distributed sensors with denser spacing were installed at all key structural nodes (such as elbows, tees, and reducers) based on the original micro-pressure differential sensing modules, shortening the spacing between the 120-meter to 132-meter sections from 15 meters to 3 meters, forming a high-density monitoring grid; these sensing modules collect instantaneous pressure values ​​at their respective locations at a high frequency of 20 times per second. and synchronize the data to the central analysis system in real time.

[0027] According to this dynamic pressure model, the system calculates the local pressure change rate of each node , where the pressure change function is: ; In the formula, It represents the pressure gradient per unit length. In the measured data, this item shows an obvious discontinuous jump near the 123-meter node, which is about -1.85 Pa / m, indicating that this is the local pressure drop center. The acceleration component of pressure over time. The maximum acceleration detected at the 123-meter period is 0.12 Pa / s², which is much higher than the average value of other sections of the pipeline (<0.01 Pa / s²). The sensitivity adjustment factor set by the system Select 3.0 (the recommended value range is 1.5 to 5.0, the higher the value, the more inclined to short-term response amplification). Under this parameter, the total response peak value of the pressure anomaly at the 123-meter node is obtained by comprehensive calculation. , significantly exceeding the safety and stability threshold (usually set to 0.5 ~ 0.8 Pa), the system determines that the point is a suspected level 1 risk leakage location.

[0028] To further quantify this risk and eliminate error interference, the system constructs an integral leakage assessment model based on the phenomenon of asynchronous pressure changes on the time axis of each node, accumulatively evaluates the tiny leakage signs, and calculates the leakage risk integral value L(x) at each position x. The calculation process is as follows: Integrate the change in the instantaneous pressure derivative at each position point in this section within 10 minutes (600 seconds), where the system performs cumulative processing after exponentially weighting the absolute value derivative (i.e., the pressure change rate). For actual substitution and analysis, the cumulative risk integral value at the 123-meter point within 10 minutes is: ; while the average integral value of other normal sections of the pipeline is about 30 - 40 , indicating that the leakage behavior in this section is a high-probability event, and the system marks it as a key intervention target.

[0029] After the technical personnel conducted on-site inspection by opening the cover and confirmed that the 123-meter node was indeed a return elbow, there were aging microcracks at its connecting flange, and the leaked gas escaped along the seal ring gap. Subsequently, the system performed local high-temperature steam sterilization on this node and replaced the sealing components. After reusing the disturbed air flow and the dynamic pressure model for retesting, the pressure curves of all nodes returned to synchronization, and the integral value dropped below 20. It was evaluated and confirmed that the aseptic pipeline state had reached the standard.

[0030] Example 2: Combined with the attached Figure 3 , in this example, the enterprise further uses the rapid microbial assessment and intelligent debugging technology to identify whether there are potential microbial contamination hazards and evaluate the potential expansion ability of the contamination risk, so as to achieve precise verification and control of the asepticity of the entire pipeline system. The total length of this pipeline system is 180 meters. Leakage has been excluded and cleaning has been completed in the early stage. Subsequently, fluorescently labeled simulation liquid was injected into each key node, and the liquid outlet samples of 10 key nodes (such as the feed end, the middle section elbow, the tail end return point, etc.) were collected, and dynamic culture analysis was performed using a rapid microbial culture system. The culture environment was set at 32°C ± 1°C, a modified TSA rapid culture medium was used, and a colony image data was collected every 20 minutes with an imaging device. The entire culture time was set at 6 hours, and a total of 18 groups of images were recorded for each sample point. The AI analysis system extracted the colony quantity and area through an image recognition algorithm, and extracted the colony growth trend of each group of samples in the initial stage, and substituted it into the growth trend function for non-linear fitting:

[0031] In the detection sample of the No. 6 node (located at the 135-meter return dead end), the system initially detected = 5 colonies. Subsequently, it was observed that the colony quantity increased rapidly within 1 hour. After the AI system fitted the sample curve, it was confirmed that: = 1.35 (the recommended value range is 0.5 - 2.0, used to represent the growth reaction intensity), = 0.4 (the typical range is 0.1 - 0.6, controlling the growth acceleration), = 1.8 (non - linear growth adjustment factor, usually set between 1.2 - 2.5, used to describe the early growth slope).

[0032] Substitute the above parameters into the model to calculate the number of colonies at this point after 3 hours of cultivation (i.e., t = 3), and we get:

[0033] That is, after 3 hours of cultivation, the total number of colonies in this sample has increased from 5 to about 14, with an increase rate close to three times. The system judges that its growth rate and acceleration are much higher than the normal area (for example, the number of colonies at node No. 2 only increases from 4 to 6.2 after 3 hours of growth). It is preliminarily evaluated as a "high - potential reproduction risk area". Subsequently, the AI system compares the growth trend of this node with that of other nodes for modeling, and combines the three dimensions of growth rate, acceleration, and density to weight the risk level. Finally, the maximum potential reproduction risk index MGRI value of this node is calculated to be 72.4 (the standard sets the MGRI safety threshold at 40, and the normal range of MGRI is 10 - 35). Since this value significantly exceeds the standard, the system triggers the local response program, executes the local pulsed high - temperature steam sterilization process for the 135 - meter return section, and re - samples for verification after sterilization. The number of colonies returns to zero, confirming that this risk point has been controlled.

[0034] After the above - mentioned 135 - meter return dead - end high - risk point is confirmed as a potential microbial reproduction hot spot and the MGRI value is calculated to be 72.4 through the colony number growth model, the system further conducts a more in - depth evaluation of the morphological expansion characteristics of this point to determine whether the actual spatial diffusion ability of the colonies also reaches the warning level, so as to support the comprehensive judgment of the MGRI index. At this stage, the system not only tracks the change in the number of colonies, but also extracts the change in the area and equivalent radius of the colonies at each moment in real - time. By using the image recognition module to obtain the edge contours of all colonies in each image, the system calculates the equivalent radius according to the closed path of the colony edge, and averages the squares of the radii of all colonies. Finally, a dynamic evaluation is carried out using the expansion potential energy function, and this function is: ; Among them, D(t) represents the colony expansion rate per unit time (i.e., the area growth trend), which is used to reflect the ability of the colonies to form potential cross - contamination on the surface of the culture medium, is the expansion weight adjustment coefficient, and the recommended actual value range is set to 0.5 - 1.5. The value taken this time is = 1.2 to increase the influence weight of area change on the overall risk calculation; M(t) represents the total number of colonies effectively identified at time t. In the image data at the 3rd hour, the system identified M(3) = 14 colonies, which is consistent with the calculated value of the quantity model; the equivalent radius of each colony is in millimeters. After calibration by image calibration, the system obtains the change in the squared radius value of each colony from the initial time to 3 hours. For example, the of the 1st colony at t = 3h is = 1.9mm, the 2nd one is ; The average squared value calculated at the same node at t = 2.5h is 2.68. Therefore, the growth within the unit time (0.5h) is: ; Substitute into the original formula for calculation: ; This expansion rate is much higher than the set threshold of 0.6 mm² / h (the system experience threshold range is 0.4 - 0.7 mm² / h), and it is determined that the morphological expansion is extremely active. Combining the known colony number growth rate and this expansion speed before, the AI risk assessment system recalculates the comprehensive MGRI value (adding the weight of the D(t) component) for this node and corrects it to 79.2, further confirming that it is a "very high risk" area. It should be noted that the colonies at this node in the image already show a tendency for adjacent colonies to merge, indicating that its transmission potential already has the realistic risk of causing local cross - contamination. At this time, the system immediately sets the 135 - meter section as "forced closure" through the set response rules, suspends the material operation of this section, and simultaneously activates the double - section staggered sterilization mechanism (that is, sterilizing two adjacent sections simultaneously) to prevent the remaining colonies at the boundary.

[0035] After confirming that the 135 - meter dead - end area of the return flow is a point with extremely active morphological expansion and completing the independent modeling of quantity growth and expansion potential, this food and beverage enterprise further uses the risk comprehensive assessment mechanism to unify and integrate the colony number growth rate and morphological expansion ability into a multi - factor prediction model, constructs the maximum potential reproduction risk index MGRI, as the key decision parameter for whether to trigger local sterilization and isolation. The specific formula is as follows: ; Among them, the integration interval is set as = 1.0h to = 3.0h, corresponding to the core window for continuous tracking starting from the sampling of the simulated liquid; is the weight coefficient of the colony number growth rate. The empirically recommended value ranges from 1.0 to 3.0. In this experiment, it is set as = 2.2 to emphasize the leading role of rapid proliferation in the system risk; is the weight coefficient of the morphological expansion rate part, and the value range is 0.5 to 2.5. In this example, it is set as = 1.8 to enhance the feedback sensitivity of morphological abnormalities to the model; The exponential weighting factor is used to non-linearly amplify the influence of the expansion behavior. The empirically recommended value is 1.5 to 2.5. In this case, it is set as = 2.0, that is, for every doubling of the expansion speed, the risk impact increases by four times.

[0036] According to the foregoing calculation, at the 3rd hour, the growth rate of the colony number is approximately: ; At the same time, the expansion rate has been calculated as , substituting it into the model, the instantaneous risk intensity at the moment of t = 3 hours is obtained as: ; Approximately integrate the above values using the trapezoidal method in a 2-hour observation window, calculate the MGRI intensity in each 30-minute interval and sum them up, and the cumulative MGRI estimate is obtained as: ; However, due to the significant exponential growth of the expansion rate in the last 1 hour, according to the AI model prediction of the system, if no intervention is carried out, the MGRI will break through 75 at the 4th hour and reach the "extremely high risk" classification (system warning classification standard: low risk < 20, medium risk 20 - 50, high risk 50 - 70, extremely high risk > 70). Therefore, before the system outputs a warning, the AI active control logic immediately triggers the "active lockdown + bilateral local sterilization" instruction for this section, and simultaneously implements the combined sterilization of superheated steam + dry gas on the 135-meter section and its adjacent 120 - 135 meters and 135 - 150 meters sections for 12 minutes, and synchronously executes the verification program of the simulated liquid after sterilization to verify whether the aseptic reconstruction status meets the standard.

[0037] The above shows and describes the basic principles, main features and advantages of the present invention. Those skilled in the art should understand that the present invention is not limited by the above embodiments. What is described in the above embodiments and the specification only illustrates the principles of the present invention. Without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, the present invention will have various changes and improvements, and these changes and improvements all fall within the scope of the present invention claimed. The scope of protection claimed by the present invention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A method for evaluating and debugging a sterilized pipeline for food and beverage processing, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: A micro-positive pressure environment is established by introducing standardized sterile gas into a closed piping system; The micro-pressure difference sensing module is used to detect the pressure change curve of each node of the system in real time; the location and size of the micro-leakage point are calculated according to the pressure difference change rate formula; On the basis of no leakage confirmation, calibrated particle size particles including polystyrene microspheres are introduced; the movement trajectory of particles in the pipeline is recorded using a dynamic particle imaging system; through trajectory analysis, potential pollution accumulation areas in flow dead corners and retention areas are identified to quantitatively mark the probability of pollution accumulation in each section of the pipeline; Prepare a simulated liquid, add biomarker particles including latex particles wrapped with fluorescent dyes, and make it close to the viscosity and fluidity of the target beverage; local directional perfusion is performed according to the identified potential pollution accumulation area; A local sample of the simulated liquid effluent is collected for rapid microbial culture; the potential reproduction risk index is calculated based on the initial colony growth rate in combination with an AI-assisted growth curve prediction system; and a local sterilization instruction is triggered for areas with high reproduction risk index values.

2. The method for evaluating and debugging a sterilized pipeline for food and beverage processing according to claim 1, characterized in that: The method for calculating the position and size of the trace leakage point includes: In a closed pipeline system, a controllable micro-positive pressure environment is formed, and a unidirectional escape flow from the inside to the outside is formed at the potential leakage point. Sterile gas that has passed particle filtration is introduced, and a controlled disturbance flow management strategy is adopted. By setting the initial flow and introducing time-increasing disturbances, a dynamically changing gas injection pattern is constructed.

3. A method for evaluating and debugging a sterilized pipeline for food and beverage processing according to claim 2, characterized in that: The method for calculating the position and size of the trace leakage point includes: Micro-pressure differential sensing modules are distributedly installed at key nodes inside the pipeline system, including bends and turns, to collect data on changes in local pressure at each node over time and position at high frequency. The spatial gradient and time acceleration characteristics of the pressure changes between nodes are used to perform multi-dimensional analysis and construct a dynamic pressure change function.

4. A method for evaluating and debugging a sterilized pipeline for food and beverage processing according to claim 3, characterized in that: The method for calculating the location and size of the trace leakage point includes: establishing an integral evaluation system for the asynchronous pressure change phenomenon between nodes based on the pressure change curve collected by each sensor node, quantifying the tiny leakage risk at different locations, and calculating the cumulative value of potential leakage risk by accumulating leakage signs through time integration.

5. The method for evaluating and debugging a sterilized pipeline for food and beverage processing according to claim 1, characterized in that: The method for calculating the potential reproduction risk index includes: collecting simulated liquid outlet samples from each node of the pipeline and using them for rapid microbial culture; using a temperature-controlled rapid culture system in the culture process, and using an imaging device to regularly collect colony images to obtain early growth behavior data of the colony; by identifying the dynamic changes in the initial colony number growth, constructing a growth trend function to fit the initial growth rate; the growth trend model is defined as: ; in: represents the total number of colonies at time t; is the initial colony number; is the quantity growth response coefficient, which is a dimensionless coefficient and is used to control the response speed of colony quantity growth to time changes; is the disturbance gain factor, which determines the base amplitude of the growth acceleration; To cultivate time; It is a nonlinear growth index used to adjust the nonlinear steepness of the early growth curve.

6. A method for evaluating and debugging aseptic pipelines for food and beverage processing according to claim 5, characterized in that: The method for calculating the potential reproductive risk index comprises: Track the growth of the number, extract the area and morphological expansion of the colony in real time, extract the edge contour of the colony through image processing algorithm and calculate the radius change of each colony; based on the average expansion behavior of all colonies, define the local expansion potential energy function as follows: ; in: It represents the average expansion speed of the local colony per unit time and is used to measure the degree of morphological expansion activity; is the expansion weight adjustment coefficient, which is used to regulate the contribution of area change rate to risk assessment; For time The total number of colonies identified at any moment; For the The equivalent radius of a colony; It is the arithmetic mean of the squares of all colony areas; represents the derivative operation with respect to time, extracting the dynamic changes of the expansion rate.

7. A method for evaluating and debugging aseptic pipelines for food and beverage processing according to claim 6, characterized in that: The method for calculating the potential reproductive risk index comprises: The number growth and morphological expansion are unified into a model and risk prediction is performed. The reproduction risk index is introduced to comprehensively calculate the weighted sum of the colony number growth rate and expansion potential per unit time. The risk integral model constructed is: ; in: : Indicates the time interval Within, the maximum potential breeding risk index of the target pipeline area; is the weight coefficient of the population growth risk, which is used to adjust the contribution of the colony population growth to the total risk; is the weight coefficient of expansion rate risk; It indicates the rate of change of colony number over time; represents the power function of the expansion rate, It is a risk-weighted index used to enhance the impact of the morphological expansion factor on the total risk value; is an integral symbol, indicating that the cumulative risk is calculated within the entire culture observation window.

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