Clean in place ice making system
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional ice making systems face challenges in effectively cleaning and sanitizing without disrupting operations, as they often require disassembly, use hazardous chemicals, and fail to fully remove mineral deposits, leading to scale buildup and microbial growth, which can clog components and produce contaminated ice.
Innovation Solution
A clean-in-place system that uses ozonated water to recirculate and spray throughout the ice making system, including the evaporator, water distributor, and storage bin, to sanitize and de-scale without removing the ice, utilizing a controller to manage the ozonated water generation and distribution, ensuring effective removal of contaminants and prevention of microbial growth.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If conventional cleaning methods are used, then ice making systems can be cleaned, but the system requires disassembly and uses hazardous chemicals
Solution Approach 1:
The ice making system performs cleaning autonomously without requiring external disassembly or manual intervention. The evaporator acts as its own cleaning chamber, and the system automatically circulates cleaning solutions through its components, eliminating the need for system teardown while maintaining thorough cleaning effectiveness
Solution Approach 2:
The evaporator serves dual functions: it acts as both the ice-making component and the cleaning chamber. The same evaporator that freezes ice is used to contain and circulate cleaning solutions, eliminating the need for separate cleaning equipment or system disassembly, thereby reducing complexity while maintaining cleaning effectiveness
2Reliability
If conventional cleaning methods are used, then ice making systems can be sanitized, but mineral deposits and scale buildup remain
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the chemical parameters of the cleaning solution by using ozonated water, which contains dissolved ozone. This parameter change enables the solution to effectively remove mineral deposits and sanitize simultaneously, preventing scale buildup while maintaining reliability. The ozonated water's oxidizing properties allow it to dissolve minerals that conventional cleaners cannot remove
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs ozonated water, which contains dissolved ozone—a strong oxidant—to clean and sanitize the ice making system. The ozone accelerates the oxidation of organic contaminants and helps dissolve mineral deposits, providing both sanitization and descaling effects that conventional cleaning methods fail to achieve, thereby preventing scale buildup while maintaining sanitization effectiveness
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the system is disassembled for cleaning, then thorough cleaning can be achieved, but operational disruption occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The ice making system cleans itself in place without requiring disassembly or removal from service. The system automatically circulates ozonated water through its components, including the evaporator and water distributor, achieving thorough contaminant removal while maintaining operational continuity and preventing productivity loss
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts the cleaning function from the traditional disassembly process and integrates it into the operational cycle. By circulating cleaning solutions through the system's existing water pathways, the cleaning action is separated from the mechanical disassembly step, allowing thorough cleaning to occur while the system remains assembled and operational
4Reliability
If hazardous chemicals are used for cleaning, then effective sanitization can be achieved, but safety risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes from using hazardous chemical cleaners to ozonated water, altering the chemical composition to a safer form. The ozonated water maintains sanitization effectiveness through ozone's oxidizing properties while eliminating the safety risks associated with harsh chemicals, as ozone decomposes into oxygen without leaving harmful residues
Solution Approach 2:
The system converts the typically harmful effect of strong oxidants into a benefit by using ozonated water. While strong oxidants can be damaging, ozone's controlled oxidation in water provides effective sanitization and mineral removal without the safety risks of conventional hazardous cleaners, transforming a potentially harmful mechanism into a beneficial cleaning agent
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
This approach allows for thorough sanitization and de-scaling of ice making systems without disassembly, reducing the risk of microbial growth and scale buildup, ensuring the production of clean ice while minimizing the use of hazardous chemicals and maintaining system functionality.
Implementation Method 1
an ozonated water generator to produce ozonated water
Implementation Method 2
a circulation pump to circulate the ozonated water through a conduit system
Implementation Method 3
spray the ozonated water onto an evaporator
Implementation Method 4
thorough sanitization and de-scaling of ice making systems without disassembly, reducing the risk of microbial growth and scale buildup
Data Source
AI summary
An ice machine prevents micro-organism growth by utilizing a clean-in-place process. The ice making process of the ice making machine is turned OFF, and then ozonated water, from an ozonated water generation system, is pumped into a distribution system, within the ice making machine so that the ozonated water is sprayed onto surfaces of the ice making machine which are susceptible to micro-organism growth and/or scale. Exposing the surfaces to ozonated water kills the micro-organisms and rinses the dead micro-organisms out of the ice making machine.