Aseptic Pigging Stations for In-Place Sterile Pipeline Scraping
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Solution Overview
Problem
In large-scale production of food, beverages, dairy products, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals, there is a need for an aseptic scraping/pigging system that can maintain sterile conditions and allow for the separation of fluids without requiring the entire system to be sterilized again, while also enabling the recovery of product from pipelines.
Innovation Solution
An aseptic scraping system comprising a launching station, a catching station, and a pipe in fluid communication, with actuators that maintain aseptic conditions by using sterilized rods and steam chambers to introduce and retrieve a scraper, allowing for the scraping of pipelines while maintaining aseptic conditions and enabling the system to be sterilized in place.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the entire system is sterilized repeatedly to maintain aseptic conditions, then hygiene is ensured, but productivity decreases due to repeated sterilization cycles
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the sterilization function into two parts: the pipe is sterilized once, while the scraper is designed to be sterilizable independently at the catching station. This segmentation allows the scraper to be reused without requiring repeated sterilization of the entire system, thus maintaining aseptic conditions while improving productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The catching station is equipped with a sterilization system that can sterilize the scraper in place without requiring removal from the system. This self-service capability allows the scraper to be sterilized autonomously, reducing downtime and maintaining continuous production while ensuring aseptic conditions.
2Productivity
If the scraper is introduced into the pipe without sterilization to improve productivity, then production efficiency increases, but aseptic conditions are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary sterilization of the scraper at the catching station before the scraper is reintroduced into the pipe for the next scraping cycle. This preliminary action ensures that the scraper is sterile before contact with the product, maintaining aseptic conditions while enabling continuous production without repeated full-system sterilization.
3Ease of operation
If the system is designed for easy cleaning to improve ease of operation, then maintenance becomes simpler, but device complexity increases due to additional cleaning components
Solution Approach 1:
The scraper is designed as a separate, removable component that can be extracted from the pipe and sterilized at the catching station. This extraction design simplifies cleaning by isolating the component that requires frequent sterilization, making maintenance easier without significantly increasing overall system complexity.
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 system effectively maintains aseptic conditions during scraping and cleaning, allowing for multiple uses without the need for repeated sterilization, thereby ensuring hygiene and minimizing product loss by using pressure differentials to move the scraper through the pipeline.
Implementation Method 1
maintaining a positive pressure ahead of the scraper's direction of motion to thereby scrape the pipe
Data Source
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AI summary
The disclosure is directed an aseptic scraping system, which provides for the highest level of hygiene in food and beverage, dairy, cosmetic, healthcare as well as pharmaceutical industries. The aseptic scraping/pigging system comprises: a launching station (100, 400) configured to accept a scraper (120); a catching station (300, 500) configured to accept the scraper (120, 412); a pipe (130, 360) connected to the launching station (100, 400) on one end and the catching station (300, 500) on the other end so that the launching station (100, 400) and catching station (300, 500) are in-line and in fluid communication; a launching station actuator (110) in the launching station (100, 400) for launching the scraper (120, 412) into the pipe (130, 360); a holding actuator (140) in the launching station (100, 400) for maintaining the scraper (120, 412) in the launching station (100, 400); and a catching station actuator (310) in the catching station (300, 500) for launching the scraper (120, 412) into the pipe (130, 360). The system is designed so that the pipe can be scraped while maintaining aseptic conditions. The disclosure also includes a method of scraping a pipe using this system.