Kitchen Kettle Outlet Valve With Annular CIP Cleaning Flow
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current institutional kitchen kettles lack a suitable outlet valve design that allows for effective CIP cleaning, leading to incomplete cooking and potential clogging, while also failing to meet high hygiene standards, especially in hot-fill applications where bacteria contamination is a risk.
Innovation Solution
The design features a reduction ring fixed to the kettle's bottom opening with a piston mechanism that creates an annular slot for CIP cleaning, ensuring the valve can be easily cleaned and preventing food from entering the outlet pipe during cooking, and allowing for efficient food discharge and cleaning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the outlet valve is positioned outside the kettle in the outlet pipe, then the food can be discharged from the kettle, but the food will not be properly cooked and may clog the outlet pipe
Solution Approach 1:
The outlet valve is divided into separate components: a sieve element with cooking chambers and a plunger element. The sieve remains in the kettle to cook food properly, while the plunger can be operated to discharge food. This segmentation allows food to be cooked in the sieve before discharge, preventing clogging while maintaining discharge efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The sieve acts as an intermediary between the kettle interior and the outlet pipe. It provides a controlled interface where food can be processed (cooked) before being discharged, preventing direct contact between uncooked food and the outlet pipe while maintaining efficient discharge capability.
2Reliability
If the bottom opening of the kettle is closed during cooking, then food can be kept in the kettle for even cooking, but the closing system cannot be cleaned by CIP cleaning
Solution Approach 1:
The closing system is segmented into the sieve element and plunger element, which can be separated from each other and from the kettle body for cleaning. The sieve can be removed and cleaned separately, enabling effective CIP cleaning while maintaining the closing function during cooking.
Solution Approach 2:
The plunger element is designed to move dynamically within the sieve, allowing it to seal the opening during cooking and then be retracted to allow cleaning fluid to pass through. This dynamic movement enables the system to switch between cooking and cleaning modes, ensuring both cooking uniformity and cleanability.
3Reliability
If a sieve and plunger are sealed to the valve body, then the bottom opening can be closed tightly, but the valve cannot be cleaned by CIP cleaning and requires disassembly
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing system uses a plunger element that seals against the sieve rather than being permanently fixed to the valve body. This segmentation allows the plunger to be retracted and the sieve to be removed for cleaning, maintaining sealing effectiveness during operation while enabling easy cleaning by CIP methods.
Solution Approach 2:
The sieve element is designed to be extractable from the valve assembly for cleaning purposes. By taking out the sieve separately, the system maintains tight sealing during cooking while allowing the cleaning fluid to access all surfaces of the closing system for effective CIP cleaning.
Data Source
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AI summary
The object of the invention is an outlet valve for an institutional kitchen kettle (1) and a method for using the outlet valve. The piston means of the outlet valve is a piston casing (9) arranged in the cylinder pipe (11), which piston casing receives an elongated piston means (6) coaxial with the cylinder pipe, the end (6') of the piston means being movable into a position closing the reduction ring (4) opening (5) tightly. Between the cylinder chamber (20) and the piston means (6) remains a slot (7) of annular cross-section over the total distance of the cylinder chamber (20), making it possible to supply washing liquid at a specific minimum flow rate through the bottom opening (2) to the outlet pipe (3) for CIP cleaning.