Undenatured Meat Protein Steam Injection With Cooled Flow Paths
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Solution Overview
Problem
Direct steam injection systems face significant deposition issues with meat and egg proteins, leading to system plugging and increased operational costs due to frequent shut-downs for cleaning, preventing their use for heat treating raw meat proteins.
Innovation Solution
A system with a heating medium injector, mixture flow path, and vacuum chamber, where the mixture flow path is cooled to prevent deposition by using coolant fluid circulating chambers and thermal communication with the mixture flow path surfaces, allowing rapid heating and cooling of undenatured meat proteins to eliminate pathogens without denaturation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If direct steam injection is used to heat treat meat proteins, then pathogens are eliminated and treatment temperature is achieved, but deposition of meat proteins on system surfaces occurs leading to plugging and shutdowns
Solution Approach 1:
A cooled surface is introduced as an intermediary between the heated meat protein mixture and the system surfaces. The cooled surface acts as a temporary holding area where the mixture can be rapidly cooled and deposited without adhering to the system surfaces, thereby preventing plugging and enabling continuous operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The temperature parameter is rapidly changed from high (heating zone) to low (cooled surface zone) to prevent deposition. By quickly cooling the meat protein mixture on the cooled surface, the system prevents the proteins from denaturing and adhering to system surfaces, thus avoiding plugging while maintaining continuous operation.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If meat proteins are heated to eliminate pathogens, then pathogens are destroyed, but the proteins may denature and deposit on surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies periodic thermal action - rapid heating to eliminate pathogens followed by rapid cooling on the cooled surface to prevent denaturation. This periodic heating and cooling cycle allows pathogen destruction while maintaining protein stability and preventing deposition on system surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The system rushes through the critical temperature zone where denaturation occurs by rapidly heating to kill pathogens and then immediately cooling on the cooled surface. This rapid transition skips the prolonged exposure to temperatures that would cause denaturation and deposition, achieving pathogen elimination without compromising protein stability.
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
Prevents undue deposition of product constituents on system surfaces, enabling efficient and continuous processing of undenatured meat proteins by maintaining desired treatment temperatures while avoiding denaturation.
Implementation Method 1
The cooling structure removes heat from surfaces of the mixture flow path at a rate sufficient to prevent deposition of product constituents on the surfaces
Implementation Method 2
the water added to the product during treatment may be removed from the product by applying a vacuum sufficient to vaporize the added water and then drawing off the water vapor
Implementation Method 3
direct contact adds water to the foodstuff being treated... steam may be injected into a stream of foodstuff flowing through a conduit to rapidly increase the temperature of the foodstuff
Data Source
AI summary
An article includes a heating medium injector, a mixture flow path, and a vacuum chamber. The heating medium injector has a heating medium path connected to receive a heating medium such as steam and a product path connected to receive undenatured meat protein. The heating medium injector also includes a mixing structure and a mixture outlet. The mixing structure comprises a structure within the heating medium injector at which the heating medium path and product path merge and the mixture outlet is connected to receive material from the mixing structure. The mixture flow path defines a mixture flow path volume and is connected at one end to the mixture outlet of the heating medium injector and at the opposite end to the vacuum chamber. Undenatured meat protein is contained within the vacuum chamber outside of the mixture flow path volume.