Balanced Vacuum Vessel Control for Food Temperature and Moisture
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing technologies face challenges in simultaneously achieving precise control over temperature and moisture content in food products during vacuum cooling and cooking processes, leading to failures and irregularities due to the evaporative nature of these processes and difficulties in accurately measuring product weight under vacuum.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that utilize a vacuum rated and agitated vessel with indirect heat, a weighing system for precise weight measurement, a precision water metering system, and a programmable Logic Controller (PLC) or industrial computer with a control algorithm to manage vacuum levels, heat input, and water addition, thereby controlling both temperature and moisture content targets during vacuum cooling, cooking, or their combination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If vacuum cooling or cooking is used to control temperature and moisture content, then cooling or cooking efficiency is improved, but precise control of both temperature and moisture content simultaneously deteriorates due to evaporative nature and measurement difficulties
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs a feedback control mechanism where a scale continuously measures product weight under vacuum conditions, and a controller uses this real-time data to adjust vacuum pump operation and heating element power. This closed-loop feedback enables simultaneous precise control of both temperature and moisture content by dynamically responding to actual product state rather than relying on preset parameters alone.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces traditional mechanical measurement methods with electronic weighing technology that can accurately measure product weight under vacuum conditions. The electronic scale and controller system substitutes manual or indirect measurement approaches, providing precise real-time data for automated control of the vacuum cooling/cooking process.
2Quantity of substance
If vacuum level is increased to accelerate moisture removal, then moisture content control is improved, but temperature control deteriorates due to changes in boiling point and evaporation rate
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts vacuum level and heating power based on real-time product weight measurements. As moisture is removed and product weight decreases, the controller automatically modifies operating parameters to maintain both target temperature and moisture content. This dynamic adjustment allows the system to navigate the complex relationship between vacuum level, boiling point, and evaporation rate.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention utilizes parameter changes in the vacuum system by varying vacuum pressure levels during the process. The controller modulates vacuum pump operation to achieve different vacuum levels at different stages, which changes the boiling point of water in the product and thereby controls the evaporation rate to achieve precise moisture and temperature control.
3Measurement precision
If weighing system is used to measure product weight under vacuum, then moisture content measurement is improved, but measurement precision deteriorates due to vacuum force imbalance on the vessel
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs a balanced vacuum vessel design where vacuum forces are distributed symmetrically to counterbalance each other. This anti-weight approach to force distribution eliminates the net vacuum force imbalance that would otherwise affect the weighing measurement, allowing accurate weight measurement under vacuum conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces a balanced vacuum vessel as an intermediary between the vacuum environment and the weighing system. This intermediary component isolates the weighing mechanism from direct vacuum force effects while still allowing accurate measurement of product weight through the balanced vessel structure.
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 solution enables precise control over both final temperature and moisture content, reducing failures and irregularities, accelerating moisture vaporization while preventing excessive browning or nutrient degradation, and shortening the overall process time.
Implementation Method 1
Vacuum cooling is an evaporative process, in which a portion of the moisture in the food product boils off under vacuum. Since the latent heat required by the evaporation of water is supplied by the product itself, the temperature of the product drops and the cooling effect is achieved.
Implementation Method 2
the latent heat required by the evaporation of water is supplied by the product itself
Implementation Method 3
Vacuum cooking operates under the same principle. The only difference is that the latent heat required to boil off the moisture is supplied by an indirect heat source such as an associated jacket or heat exchanger.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus, system, and method for a precision temperature and moisture content control for batch food production using an agitated and jacketed vessel equipped with a multi-stage and balanced vacuum system, an outboard heat exchanger system indirectly heats the vessel and accompanying, weighing, sensing, and controlling devices. A condensate collection and weight system is interlinked with processing control so as to allow a vacuum level within the system to be precisely controlled based on the weighing system to allow moisture removal and prevent overcooking in an automated vacuum cooling process, a vacuum cooking process, or a combination of a vacuum cooling and a vacuum cooking process.