Retractable Carcass Cabinet with Electrostatic Aerosol Treatment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current antimicrobial treatment methods for animal carcasses, such as hot water pasteurization, are limited in the range of intervention technologies and practices they can employ, pose safety risks to workers, and struggle to ensure complete surface coverage of carcasses.
Innovation Solution
A retractable carcass cabinet system with electrostatic nozzles and airtight enclosures that aerosolize and attract antimicrobial agents to the carcass surface, using drive chains to position panels around the carcass and evacuate particles, ensuring uniform coverage and containment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If hot water pasteurization is used for antimicrobial treatment, then pathogen reduction is achieved, but the range of intervention technologies is limited and worker safety is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The cabinet is divided into multiple retractable panels (front, rear, top, bottom) that can independently move to enclose the carcass. This segmentation allows the system to maintain versatility for different treatment technologies while containing harmful agents within specific zones, protecting workers.
Solution Approach 2:
The cabinet panels are designed to be dynamically retractable rather than fixed, allowing the enclosure to adapt to different treatment processes and safely contain various intervention technologies. The dynamic structure enables the system to switch between different treatment modes while maintaining worker safety through controlled enclosure.
2Manufacturing precision
If one-piece cabinet is used for encloses carcasses, then structure simplicity is maintained, but complete surface coverage of carcass cannot be ensured
Solution Approach 1:
The cabinet is segmented into multiple independently movable panels that can enclose the carcass from all sides. This segmentation enables complete surface coverage by allowing each panel to position itself relative to the carcass, achieving 360-degree coverage without requiring an overly complex fixed structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The retractable panels extend the enclosure into multiple spatial dimensions around the carcass, allowing treatment agents to reach all surfaces. This dimensional approach ensures complete coverage while maintaining relatively simple panel structures that move along guided paths.
3Productivity
If flood technology with large volume water is used, then pathogen reduction is achieved, but treatment efficiency and resource usage are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and removes excess water from the treatment process by evacuating the cabinet chamber after treatment. This allows using smaller volumes of water or treatment agents during the actual treatment phase, improving efficiency while maintaining effective pathogen reduction through controlled application and subsequent removal.
Solution Approach 2:
The treatment process uses periodic action with distinct phases: treatment application, chamber evacuation, and panel retraction. This periodic cycle allows efficient use of treatment agents by concentrating them during the treatment phase, then removing them during evacuation, improving productivity while reducing overall substance consumption.
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 allows for a wider range of antimicrobial treatment technologies while ensuring worker safety and achieving complete surface coverage of carcasses with antimicrobial agents, enhancing treatment efficiency and safety.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of electrostatic nozzles, aerosolizing a liquid antimicrobial agent to form aerosolized antimicrobial particles
Implementation Method 2
imparting an electrostatic charge to the aerosolized antimicrobial particles... which are attracted to the carcass by the electrostatic charge
Implementation Method 3
a plurality of evacuation columns... evacuating substantially all of the aerosolized antimicrobial particles within the evacuation region from the interior volume
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus and method for applying an antimicrobial agent to whole or split animal carcasses include a closed or essentially closed chamber for limiting the escape of antimicrobial agent to the environment during antimicrobial treatment of the carcass. In one embodiment, a series of carcass cabinet panels moves in line with the passing animal carcass and forms an enclosure around the carcass by means of panels closing ahead of and behind the carcass. In another embodiment, the direction and spray pattern of positively charged aerosolized antimicrobial particles in a carcass cabinet is controlled by attracting the particles to preselected negatively charged regions within the carcass cabinet.