Liquid food cooler
The use of cellular polymer material and Peltier elements in the heat exchanger components addresses the inefficiencies of existing designs by reducing weight and energy consumption, enhancing contact area and sealing, and achieving efficient cooling and mixing of liquid food products.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- RU · RU
- Patent Type
- Patents
- Current Assignee / Owner
- GROKHOTOV ALEKSANDR SERGEEVICH
- Filing Date
- 2025-03-31
- Publication Date
- 2026-07-07
AI Technical Summary
Existing heat exchangers for cooling liquid food products suffer from high metal consumption, increased weight leading to higher energy consumption, reduced contact area with the liquid, and complex sealing issues due to additional mechanisms and float structures.
The heat exchanger components, including the frame, top plate, and side connecting elements, are made of cellular polymer material with solid protective walls, incorporating Peltier elements between a metal foil and a solid cooling sheet, connected in electrical circuits for temperature control, and sealed with screw mechanisms for uniform distribution and sealing.
This design reduces the heat capacity and weight of the exchanger, allowing it to float on the liquid surface without additional mechanisms, enhances the contact area, improves sealing, and efficiently cools the liquid by varying the Peltier element temperature, ensuring uniform cooling and mixing.
Smart Images
Figure 00000001_ABST
Abstract
Description
[0001] The invention relates to heat exchange apparatuses and to a method for their manufacture, used in cryogenic technology for cooling liquid food products.
[0002] A device for cooling milk in a tank is known, consisting of a heat exchanger with floats fixed along its perimeter, which hold the heat exchanger on the surface of the liquid [1].
[0003] The disadvantage of the device is the high metal consumption of the heat exchanger, therefore, part of the energy intended for cooling the milk is spent on cooling the heat exchanger body, the contact area of the heat exchanger and the liquid is reduced, since part of the milk surface is located under the floats, which are fixed along the entire perimeter of the heat exchanger, the surface temperature of the cooler depends only on the temperature of the cold water entering the heat exchanger.
[0004] The closest device, adopted as a prototype, is a heat exchanger consisting of a set of plates and gaskets that are connected into one package by means of external plates and external clamps [2].
[0005] The disadvantage of the heat exchanger is that the material used to manufacture the body and two plates on the outside have an increased density, which leads to an increase in the weight of the heat exchanger, therefore the heat exchanger must be held on the surface of the liquid due to an additional mechanism or float, which should be located along the entire perimeter of the heat exchanger, and the design of the float reduces the contact area of the heat exchanger with the surface of the cooled liquid, and the increased weight of the heat exchanger increases its heat capacity, therefore, leads to additional energy consumption for cooling the heat exchanger body, further, the temperature of the cooled surface of the heat exchanger depends on the temperature of the liquid entering the heat exchanger, the placement of side clamps on the long side of the cooler makes it difficult to qualitatively connect the plates and seal the cooler.
[0006] The purpose of the invention is to increase the efficiency of heat removal by the lower surface of the cooler from the surface of the cooled liquid and to improve the tightness of the cooler housing by reducing the heat capacity of the housing, monitoring and regulating the temperature of the cooling surface, and uniformly distributing the connecting elements over the surface of the cooler.
[0007] The said objective is achieved in that the frame, the top plate and the side connecting elements for fastening the top plate and the bottom plate of the cooler are made of a polymer cellular material, each element of this material is covered with a solid wall on all external sides, the bottom plate of the cooler is made in the form of a solid cool-conducting sheet, which is fixed under the heat exchange tank by the lower side connecting element, Peltier elements are fixed on the solid cool-conducting sheet, which are placed between the metal foil of the heat exchange tank and the solid cool-conducting sheet, the Peltier elements are sealed from external environments, pressed inside to the surfaces of the metal foil of the heat exchange tank and the solid cool-conducting sheet, with the warm surface directed upwards and the cold surface directed downwards, connected to each other in electrical circuits and connected by a connecting cable to the power supply and control unit of the cooler,A temperature control sensor is fixed to the surface of the solid coolant sheet, a temperature control sensor for the cooled liquid is fixed to the lower side connecting element, both control sensors are connected by wires to the power supply and control unit of the cooler, the cooler clamps are made in the form of screw mechanisms located in through stepped holes that are evenly spaced along the perimeter of the cooler, on the edge of the horizontal side faces of the connecting elements.
[0008] A comparative analysis with the prototype allows us to conclude that the claimed liquid food cooler is distinguished by the frame, top plate, and side fastening elements of the top and bottom plates being made of a cellular polymer material. Each cooler component, made of cellular polymer material, has a solid protective wall on all external sides. Internally, the cellular polymer material consists of multiple interconnected cells, thereby reducing the cooling capacity of these components. This also introduces a new advantage: the weight of the polymer components is reduced, thereby increasing the buoyancy of the entire cooler. This property allows the cooler to float on the surface of the cooled liquid without the need for additional mechanisms or floats, increasing the contact area between the bottom of the cooler and the surface of the cooled liquid. Another new technical solution is the following.Peltier elements are mounted on the bottom solid cooling sheet and pressed against the metal foil of the heat exchange vessel and the cooling sheet, with the warm surface facing up and the cold surface facing down. The Peltier elements are interconnected in electrical circuits that are connected to the cooler's power and control unit. By varying the DC current supplied to the Peltier elements, the surface temperature of the solid cooling sheet can be reduced to minus 30°C. This change in the cooler's cooled surface temperature improves its efficiency throughout the cooling process. The new, uniform distribution of screw mechanisms around the cooler's perimeter ensures high-quality sealing of the entire cooler structure.
[0009] Thus, the proposed liquid food cooler meets the "novelty" criterion. The proposed cooler has significant differences. The cooler's internal components—the frame, top plate, bottom plate, and side connecting elements—are made of a cellular polymer material. They act as a float, which has not previously been used in heat exchange. This new design reduces its heat capacity and reduces its weight. The first property reduces the energy required to cool the cooler material itself, while the second property allows it to float on the liquid surface without an additional float, thereby increasing the contact area between the cooler surface and the liquid being cooled.The cooler's bottom plate is made of a solid refrigerant sheet with Peltier elements attached to it. These elements are positioned between the metal foil of the heat exchange vessel and the solid refrigerant sheet, with the warm surface facing upward and the cold surface facing downward. The Peltier elements are connected in a structured electrical circuit and are connected by an electrical cable to the cooler's power and control unit. This arrangement of Peltier elements for cooling the liquid surface is not found in existing heat exchangers. Temperature sensors located underneath the liquid food cooler allow the temperature of the cooled liquid and the surface temperature of the refrigerant sheet to be determined throughout the entire cooling period.By varying the amount of direct current from the cooler's power supply and control unit, it is possible to significantly speed up the process of uniform cooling and mixing of the liquid in the storage tank throughout its entire volume in a natural manner.
[0010] These new significant differences in the cooler, such as the use of a polymer cellular material, allow the coolant to be retained on the liquid surface, reduce the cooler's heat capacity, simplify sealing the cooler housing joint, and improve the efficiency of heat removal from the cooled liquid by reducing the temperature of the cooler's solid heat-transfer sheet throughout the entire cooling process. All this allows us to conclude: the stated objective has been achieved and meets the technical indicator—the "significant differences" criterion—inventive step, and industrial applicability (Article 1350 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
[0011] Fig. 1 shows a diagram of the internal arrangement of the elements of the liquid food product cooler (cross-section A-A); Fig. 2 shows a diagram of the external arrangement of the elements of the liquid food product cooler (top view); Fig. 3 is a photo of the structure of the polymer cellular material (used) of the cooler element (the top wall is removed); Fig. 4 is a photo of the location of the cooler on the surface of the liquid; Fig. 5 is a photo of the cooler being held on the surface of the liquid under an external load.
[0012] The liquid food cooler consists (see Fig. 1) of a frame 1, a heat exchange tank 2, which is formed by a metal foil fixed on all sides of the frame 1, the upper plate 3 presses the metal foil of the heat exchange tank 2 to the frame 1 with the upper side connecting element 4 (see Fig. 1), which covers the frame 1 from above partially horizontally and from the side along the vertical wall to its middle, the lower side connecting elements 5 (see Fig. 1) also cover the frame 1 from below partially horizontally and from the side along the vertical wall to its middle, which presses, with the lower plate, the metal foil of the heat exchange tank 2 to the frame 1, the lower plate of the cooler is made in the form of a solid cool-conducting sheet 6, for example, from aluminum (see Fig. 1), on top of it, on the side of the metal foil of the tank 2, Peltier elements 7 are fixed, (see fig.1), which are directed upward with the warm surface and downward with the cold surface, each Peltier element 7 is connected to each other in ordered electrical circuits and connected by an electrical cable 8 (see Fig. 1 on the right, the cable is indicated by a solid broken line) with the power supply and control unit 9 of the cooler, which directs a constant electric current through the cable 8 to the contacts of the Peltier elements 7, the power supply and control unit 9 can change the strength of the constant electric current, this action reduces the temperature of the solid cool-conducting sheet 6, the Peltier elements 7 are sealed from the external environment and pressed to the metal foil of the heat exchange capacity 2, and the cool-conducting sheet 6 due to screw mechanisms 10, each screw mechanism 10 consists of a screw and a nut, screw mechanisms 10 (see Fig.1) located in the through stepped holes 11 located in the upper 4 and lower 5 side connecting elements of the cooler, such stepped holes 11 are symmetrical relative to the contacting surfaces of the connecting elements 4 and 5, they have two diameters, first a hole of a larger diameter for the head of a screw or nut, then a hole of a small diameter for a screw rod, such holes allow to connect the side connecting elements 4 and 5, the stepped holes 11 (see Fig. 2) for screw mechanisms are evenly spaced along the perimeter and equally spaced from the edge of the horizontal faces of the side connecting elements 4 and 5 (see Fig. 2), the inner part: (see Fig. 1) of the frame 1, the upper plate 3, the upper side connecting element 4 and the lower side connecting element 5 are made of a polymer cellular material, for example, a sample of such material was made using a 3D printer (see Fig.3), in the production of polymer cellular material, each element is protected from all external sides by a solid wall, the internal part of the polymer cellular material consists of a multitude of separately formed cells free from material (see Fig. 3), each cell is separated from the adjacent cell by a wall and sealed from all sides, the internal structure of the polymer cellular material is shown on the sample (used) of the cooler element (see Fig. 3), the upper wall on the sample (see Fig.3) for clarity, removed, the internal volume of the cell is filled with air, which has the greatest resistance to the transfer of heat or cold, and since the polymer material has the lowest coefficient of heat (cold) transfer, the polymer cellular material is the material with the lowest cooling capacity, therefore, it does not require additional energy to cool these parts of the cooler, therefore, all the cold energy is used for its intended purpose for cooling the liquid located in the storage tank, with a decrease in the density of the material, its bulk density also decreases, therefore, the polymer cellular material exhibits a new property, to hold the cooler on the surface of the cooled liquid (see Fig. 4), and also, the cooler can hold an additional external load on the surface of the liquid (see Fig. 5), the frame 1 has internal walls of the cold pipe for cold water, consisting of upper horizontal walls 12 (see Fig.1) and vertical walls 13, at the bottom of the frame 1 a metal foil is fixed to form a coolant pipe, for the rigidity of the coolant pipe structure there are transverse crossbars 14 (see Fig. 1) holding the coolant pipe in a certain position, at the beginning and end of the coolant pipe located inside the frame 1 and the heat exchange tank 2, a branch pipe 15 (see Fig. 1) is fixed for supplying cold water to the heat exchange tank 2 and a branch pipe 16 (see Fig. 1) for removing warm water from the heat exchange tank 2 of the cooler, under the solid coolant-conducting sheet 6 a temperature control sensor 17 (see Fig. 1 on the left) is fixed, determining the temperature of the solid coolant-conducting sheet 6, and on the surface of the lower side connecting element 5 a temperature control sensor 18 (see Fig. 1) is fixed, determining the temperature of the cooled liquid in the storage tank, both control sensors 17 and 18 are connected by wires (in Fig.1 are indicated by dotted lines) with the power supply and control unit 9 of the cooler, on the outer surfaces of the walls of the top plate 3, the side connecting elements 4 and 5 there is a protective layer, for this purpose a known method of applying such a layer to a polymer material is used, for example, first copper plating of the polymer material is carried out, and then a protective layer is applied to this surface by galvanic means, which limits the influence of the polymer material of the cooler on the quality of food products.
[0013] The liquid food cooler operates as follows. When the cooled liquid enters the accumulator tank. The cooler located in it floats and is held on the surface of the liquid by means of the frame 1, the upper plate 3, the side connecting elements 4 and 5 made of a polymeric cellular material, which are connected together by means of screw mechanisms 10 located in the stepped holes 11 of the side connecting elements 4 and 5. The liquid food cooler is connected to the cold water system, which enters the cooling line of the frame 1 through the branch pipe 15. Flowing along the cooling line formed by walls 12 and 13, the water fills the internal free volume of the heat exchange tank 2. In the power and control unit 9, direct electric current is turned on, which is supplied through the electric cable 8 to the contacts of the Peltier elements 7.When direct electric current is passed through the junction of two dissimilar conductors, energy is transferred from one junction conductor to the other, and heat is released or absorbed at the junction. When direct electric current is applied to the contacts of Peltier elements 7, its upper surface heats up. This is because the heated surface is pressed against the metal foil of heat-exchange vessel 2. At the same time, cold water flowing through the cooling pipe on the opposite side of heat-exchange vessel 2 takes heat from the inner side of the metal foil of heat-exchange vessel 2, thereby cooling the upper surface of the Peltier elements. Warm layers of water are displaced from the cooling pipe of heat-exchange vessel 2 through pipe 16, due to a new flow of water coming from the cold water system. At the same time, the temperature of the lower surface of the opposite surface of the Peltier elements, which is pressed against the cooling sheet 6, decreases.Consequently, the Peltier elements, in contact with the surface of the solid coolant sheet 6, cool it. The lower surface of the solid coolant sheet 6 contacts the surface of the cooled liquid located in the storage tank and cools its warm upper layers. The process of cooling and mixing the entire volume of liquid in the storage tank occurs due to natural convection. Cold, dense layers of liquid in the storage tank descend, displacing warm layers of liquid from the bottom up. Based on the readings received from the control sensor 18 in the power and control unit 9 of the cooler, the change in the temperature of the cooled liquid in the tank is determined. The surface temperature of the solid coolant sheet 6 is determined in the power and control unit 9 of the cooler based on the reading from the temperature control sensor 17.As the cooled liquid drops to a temperature close to the surface of the coolant sheet 6, the power and control unit 9 of the cooler increases the direct current supplied to the Peltier elements, which gradually reduces the temperature of the coolant sheet 6 to minus 30°C. To improve the cooling efficiency of the upper liquid layer in the storage tank, it is necessary to maintain an optimal temperature difference between the cooled liquid in the storage tank and the surface of the solid coolant sheet 6 throughout the cooling process.
[0014] Thus, using the proposed liquid food cooler simplifies sealing by uniformly distributing the screw mechanisms around its entire perimeter. The use of a polymer cellular material in the cooler design reduces the amount of material required for its manufacture, eliminates additional devices to hold the coolant on the surface of the cooled liquid, and increases the efficiency of liquid cooling. The process of cooling and mixing the liquid begins immediately after it enters the storage tank, which is important for maintaining the quality of perishable products. For example, fresh milk, which has a bactericidal phase of 20 minutes, is the only way to preserve its original quality. The use of Peltier elements enhances heat transfer between the media throughout the entire liquid food cooling process.The outer surface of the cooler's top plate and connecting elements are coated with a protective layer that limits the impact of the cooler's polymer material on food quality. The proposed cooler's cold water flow rate is lower than that of the most efficient existing plate coolers.
Claims
A liquid food product cooler comprising a frame with a coolant duct having internal walls and crossbars, on which a metal foil of a heat exchange tank is secured on the outside by means of an upper plate, a lower plate and clamps of side connecting elements, the outer surface of the cooler is made with a protective layer, characterized in that the frame, the upper plate and the side connecting elements of fastening the upper plate and the lower plate of the cooler are made of a polymeric cellular material, each element of this material is covered on all external sides by a solid wall, the lower plate of the cooler is made in the form of a solid cool-conducting sheet, which is secured under the heat exchange tank by a lower side connecting element, Peltier elements are secured on the solid cool-conducting sheet, which are placed between the metal foil of the heat exchange tank and the solid cool-conducting sheet, the Peltier elements are sealed from external environments,pressed inside to the surfaces of the metal foil of the heat exchange tank and the solid coolant-conducting sheet, with the warm surface directed upwards, with the cold surface directed downwards, connected to each other in electrical circuits and connected by a connecting cable to the power supply and control unit of the cooler, a sensor for monitoring its temperature is fixed on the surface of the solid coolant-conducting sheet, a sensor for monitoring the temperature of the cooled liquid is fixed on the lower side connecting element, both monitoring sensors are connected by wires to the power supply and control unit of the cooler, the clamps of the cooler are made in the form of screw mechanisms located in through stepped holes that are evenly spaced along the perimeter of the cooler on the edge of the horizontal side faces of the connecting elements.