Double Cannula Meat Cooling Device for Uniform Ripening
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge in meat processing is achieving homogeneous cooling and maturation of fresh meat, particularly for large pieces, to prevent uneven quality and undesirable meat types like PSE or DFD/DCB, which are affected by rapid temperature changes and uneven cooling rates.
Innovation Solution
A device with double cannulas for injecting and extracting a cooling medium, such as carbon dioxide or nitrogen, ensures uniform cooling by introducing the medium through a rinsing channel and removing it via an exhaust channel, maintaining temperature control and minimizing tissue damage with lateral flow openings to prevent blockage and using cryogenic media for efficient cooling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If rapid cooling is applied to large meat pieces, then cooling speed is improved, but temperature uniformity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling process is segmented into multiple phases: initial rapid cooling phase followed by a slower uniform cooling phase. The device uses multiple injection devices with double cannulas that can be positioned at different locations within the meat piece, enabling segmented spatial cooling zones that progress to uniform temperature distribution throughout the entire meat volume.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling medium is supplied in periodic pulses rather than continuously. The control unit regulates the cooling medium supply to provide periodic injection cycles, allowing the meat tissue to equilibrate temperature between pulses. This periodic action prevents thermal shock while maintaining efficient cooling rates, achieving both speed and uniformity.
2Productivity
If cooling medium is injected into meat tissue, then cooling efficiency is improved, but tissue blockage of injection channels deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The double cannula design nests one cannula inside another, with the first cannula (cooling medium supply) positioned within or alongside the second cannula (extraction channel). This nested structure allows the cooling medium to be injected through one channel while the other channel remains open for extraction, preventing tissue blockage by providing an alternative pathway and maintaining bidirectional flow capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the problem of tissue blockage by providing a separate extraction channel that removes cooling medium and potentially blockage-causing materials. The second cannula is specifically designed to extract substances that might otherwise block the injection channel, ensuring continuous operation and maintaining high cooling efficiency without reliability issues from blockages.
3Speed
If cooling medium temperature is lowered to increase cooling rate, then cooling speed is improved, but risk of cold shortening and DFD/DCB meat deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The periodic injection of cooling medium allows intervals between cooling pulses, during which the meat tissue can undergo necessary biochemical changes including proper acidification. This rhythmic cooling pattern prevents sustained exposure to extremely low temperatures that would cause cold shortening, while still achieving rapid overall cooling through cumulative effect of multiple pulses.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes cooling parameters including medium temperature, injection duration, and pulse frequency based on meat temperature feedback. The control unit adjusts these parameters to maintain cooling rates that are rapid enough to prevent spoilage but not so extreme as to cause cold shortening or DFD/DCB conditions, optimizing the balance between cooling speed and meat quality preservation.
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 method allows for rapid and uniform cooling of large meat pieces, ensuring consistent meat quality by maintaining a temperature difference of 25-40°C within 30 minutes to 120 minutes, preventing undesirable meat types and enhancing the maturation process.
Implementation Method 1
The cooling medium then comes into thermal contact with the surrounding tissue of the piece of meat, whereby the meat in this area cools down and the cooling medium heats up
Implementation Method 2
For example, the cooling medium is introduced via the rinsing channel during a short time pulse and collects in gaseous form inside the meat tissue. Due to the pressure of the tissue and the introduced cooling medium, which may be increased further by evaporation or sublimation of the cooling medium
Implementation Method 3
Due to the pressure of the tissue and the introduced cooling medium, which may be increased further by evaporation or sublimation of the cooling medium
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3a
Figure 3b
AI summary
To ensure a uniform and homogeneous ripening process of fresh meat, a cooling medium is injected into the interior of the meat. The temperature of this cooling medium is equal to or lower than the surface temperature of the meat. The injection is carried out using a device comprising one or more injection nozzles configured as double cannulas. One cannula serves as a flushing channel for supplying the cooling medium, and the other cannula as a vent for removing the cooling medium that has been heated by thermal contact with the meat. At least one of the cannulas has a lateral flow opening. A cryogenic cooling medium, such as liquid carbon dioxide or cold gaseous or liquid nitrogen, is preferably used.