Segmented Disc Cooker Dryer Scraping Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cooking and drying devices for organic materials in the meal industry face issues such as material build-up on heating surfaces, frequent cleaning needs, structural heaviness, and high costs, due to insufficient scraping and inefficient heat transfer mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
A combined cooker and dryer device with a chamber divided into sections, featuring heat exchange elements, rotating scrapers, and a steam system that separates the cooker and dryer sections with a water-tight panel, allowing for efficient heat transfer and water phase removal, and includes an intermittent section for oil phase separation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If rotating scrapers are used to prevent material build-up on heating surfaces, then material scraping effectiveness is improved, but device complexity and structural weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The heating surface is segmented into multiple disc-shaped hollow compartments arranged in parallel, allowing the scraper to work on individual segments rather than a continuous surface. This segmentation reduces the complexity of the scraping mechanism while maintaining effectiveness across the entire heating surface.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of having the scraper rotate independently to scrape the heating surface, the invention inverts the approach by having the heating surface itself rotate (through the disc compartments) while the scraper remains relatively stationary or rotates at a different speed, achieving effective scraping with reduced mechanical complexity.
2Reliability
If frequent cleaning is performed to remove material build-up, then heating surface efficiency is maintained, but productivity and continuous operation are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The scraping action is performed continuously and preliminarily during the cooking process itself, preventing material build-up before it can affect heating efficiency. This eliminates the need for separate cleaning interruptions, maintaining both heating surface efficiency and continuous productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The scraping mechanism operates continuously throughout the cooking and drying process, ensuring that the heating surface remains efficient without interrupting the productive operation. The useful action of scraping continues alongside the useful action of cooking and drying.
3Device complexity
If a combined cooker and dryer device is used to simplify the assembly, then device complexity is reduced, but heat transfer efficiency and water phase removal may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The cooker and dryer functions are merged into a single device with integrated heat exchange elements. The disc-shaped hollow compartments serve dual purposes: cooking material in the lower portion and drying in the upper portion, reducing overall device complexity while maintaining heat transfer efficiency through shared heating surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The heat exchange elements (disc-shaped hollow compartments) are designed to perform multiple functions: they serve as heating surfaces for cooking, provide evaporation surfaces for drying, and facilitate both steam generation and material heating. This multi-functionality maintains reliability while reducing the number of separate components needed.
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 device provides a cost-effective, efficient, and simplified solution for cooking and drying organic materials, reducing material build-up and maintenance needs, while allowing for continuous operation in smaller factories.
Implementation Method 1
heat exchange elements for conducting heat to the chamber
Implementation Method 2
a first duct leading to the jacket of the dryer section for feeding steam under pressure from a steam boiler into the heat exchange elements
Implementation Method 3
steam generated in the dryer section
Implementation Method 4
a second duct leading from the upper portion of the dryer section to the jacket of the cooker section for feeding steam generated in the dryer section into the heat exchange elements of the cooker
Implementation Method 5
scrapers fluff the material and move it along the chamber
Implementation Method 6
scrapers attached to, and rotating on the centrally arranged axis between the cylindrical or semi-cylindrical disc-shaped hollow compartments
Implementation Method 7
drying organic material to have on site
Implementation Method 8
heat exchange elements comprising i) a jacket arranged around the chamber, and ii) a plurality of cylindrical or semi-cylindrical disc-shaped hollow compartments
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to combined cooker and dryer apparatus to use for drying material, such as raw material for producing fish or meat meal. The device of the present invention provides a cooker and a dryer apparatus with disks and scrapers for heat exchange and evaporation of the water phase from any material.