Polyamide-Polyvinyl Alcohol Casing for Smoke Permeability
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current plastic casings for smoked sausages are not adequately permeable to smoke, leading to insufficient transfer of flavor and color, and are either expensive to produce or prone to excessive drying due to high water vapor transmission rates.
Innovation Solution
A smoke-permeable, moisture-resistant tubular casing made from a blend of aliphatic polyamide and water-soluble polymers, such as poly(vinyl alcohol), which allows for controlled water vapor and smoke permeability without the need for post-crosslinking, enabling efficient smoking and storage of sausages.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If plastic casings are used for smoked sausages, then production cost is reduced and manufacturing is simplified, but smoke permeability is insufficient leading to poor flavor and color transfer
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs composite materials by combining polyamide (providing structural integrity and moisture resistance) with water-soluble polymers (providing smoke permeability). This composite structure allows the casing to maintain mechanical strength while enabling sufficient smoke penetration for proper flavor and color transfer, resolving the contradiction between ease of manufacture and smoke permeability reliability.
2Reliability
If regenerated cellulose or collagen casings are used, then smoke permeability is high, but water vapor transmission rate is excessive causing sausage to dry out
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating a casing with differentiated permeability characteristics: the polyamide component provides low water vapor transmission to prevent drying, while the water-soluble polymer component provides high smoke permeability for flavor transfer. This localized functional differentiation resolves the contradiction between smoke permeability and water vapor loss.
3Reliability
If high water vapor transmission rate casings are used, then smoke permeability is good, but sausage weight loss increases during storage
Solution Approach 1:
The composite casing structure combines materials with complementary properties: polyamide provides moisture barrier functionality to minimize weight loss, while water-soluble polymers ensure adequate smoke permeability. This material combination resolves the contradiction between maintaining smoke permeability and reducing substance loss during storage.
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 casing achieves a balanced water vapor transmission rate of 40-200 g/m2·d, allowing for intense smoke flavor and color transfer while minimizing sausage drying, and is cost-effective and simple to produce, suitable for both hot and cold smoke processes.
Implementation Method 1
The casing achieves a balanced water vapor transmission rate of 40-200 g/m2·d, allowing for intense smoke flavor and color transfer
Implementation Method 2
The casing achieves a balanced water vapor transmission rate of 40-200 g/m2·d, allowing for intense smoke flavor and color transfer while minimizing sausage drying
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a smoke-permeable, moisture-resistant, tubular, biaxially oriented, preferably also heat set food casing containing a mixture of at least one aliphatic (co)polyamide and at least one water-soluble synthetic polymer, and having a water vapor transmission rate of between 40 and 200 g/m2·d. The water-soluble polymer is preferably a polyvinyl alcohol. Optionally, the mixture also contains additives which influence the optics, haptics, moisture storage capacity and peeling behavior. The casing is preferably tubular and seamless and is produced by extrusion of a corresponding thermoplastic mixture. The inventive casing is preferably used as an artifical sausage casing, especially for smokeable scalded-emulsion sausages.