Adaptive Refrigeration Control for Food Core Freezing
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Solution Overview
Problem
In food-service operations, large-volume deep-freezers often lack adequate refrigeration capacity, leading to rapid temperature decrease in chillers, which causes 'blackening' of food surfaces before the core is frozen, spoiling fresh products with high water content or low heat capacity.
Innovation Solution
A refrigeration apparatus that automatically detects the core temperature of food products and adjusts the cooling process to prevent excessive surface freezing by using a core-temperature probe and control means to set and adjust temperature set-points, ensuring the core temperature reaches a pre-set value before final cooling, thus maintaining food quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If high freezing capacity is provided to deep-freeze food products quickly, then the freezing speed is improved, but the surface temperature decreases too rapidly causing blackening of food surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The control means continuously monitors the core temperature of the food product via the core-temperature probe and dynamically adjusts the refrigeration set-point temperature based on the measured temperature and its rate of change. This feedback mechanism prevents surface blackening by ensuring the core temperature reaches the target before the surface temperature becomes excessively low, thus resolving the contradiction between fast freezing and surface quality preservation.
Solution Approach 2:
The refrigeration set-point temperature is not fixed but dynamically adjusted during the freezing process. The control means modifies the set-point temperature based on real-time core temperature measurements and cooling rates, allowing the system to optimize freezing speed at different stages while preventing surface blackening when the core approaches the target temperature.
2Loss of time
If rapid temperature pull-down is applied to cool food products quickly, then the cooling time is reduced, but the surface layers freeze before the core, spoiling food quality
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses continuous feedback from the core-temperature probe to monitor the core temperature and adjust the refrigeration set-point accordingly. This ensures that the core temperature reaches the target value before the surface temperature causes quality degradation, optimizing cooling time while preventing surface freezing damage.
Solution Approach 2:
The control means proactively adjusts the refrigeration set-point temperature based on predicted core temperature trends and cooling rates. By anticipating when the core will reach the target temperature, the system prevents surface freezing before it occurs, rather than reacting after damage has happened.
3Volume of stationary object
If large-volume deep-freezers are designed to handle substantial food volumes, then the storage capacity is improved, but the refrigeration capacity becomes insufficient for timely deep-freezing
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the refrigeration set-point temperature based on real-time core temperature measurements. This allows large-volume deep-freezers to optimize their refrigeration capacity utilization, achieving timely deep-freezing of substantial food volumes by adapting the cooling intensity to the actual thermal state of the food load.
Solution Approach 2:
The refrigeration set-point temperature parameter is changed dynamically during the freezing process based on core temperature measurements and cooling rates. This parameter adjustment allows the system to maximize refrigeration capacity efficiency, enabling timely deep-freezing of large food volumes without requiring excessive refrigeration power.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The apparatus effectively prevents surface 'blackening' by ensuring a controlled cooling process that matches the core temperature reduction with the standard regulations, maintaining food quality and appearance.
Implementation Method 1
a first temperature sensor (3) adapted to detect the core temperature of the food product
Implementation Method 2
a second temperature sensor (4) adapted to detect the temperature inside the refrigeration compartment
Implementation Method 3
the cooling process to prevent excessive surface freezing by using a core-temperature probe and control means to set and adjust temperature set-points
Implementation Method 4
ensuring the core temperature reaches a pre-set value before final cooling, thus maintaining food quality
Data Source
AI summary
Method for chilling foodstuffs contained in a chilling compartment at controllable temperature, and adapted to perform according to an operating procedure that includes continuously pulling down a temperature inside the foodstuff to be chilled, until a pre-set value (Tf) is eventually reached, provided that the temperature inside the chilling compartment is lower than a pre-set value, and the temperature at the core of the foodstuff is lower than a pre-set value. In addition, before the process is allowed to move on to a final temperature pull-down step, further conditions are defined to ensure that the temperature pull-down pattern and rate inside the foodstuff are complying with the requirements set forth by applicable standards.