Sausage Processing Vessel With Guide Jets for Casing Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for processing elongate food products, such as sausages with minced meat fillers encased in edible casings, face challenges in efficiently cooking and cooling these products without causing casing rupture or uneven processing.
Innovation Solution
A processing apparatus comprising an elongate vessel with a screw conveyor and guide jets to align and convey food products through a cooking or cooling liquid, using a helical screw conveyor and discharge belt to manage product positioning and prevent rupture, with optional rotatable flighted drum configurations for alternating deposit zones.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional cooking methods are used for sausages, then the cooking process is simple, but the sausages experience uneven cooking and casing rupture
Solution Approach 1:
The processing system divides the cooking process into distinct zones along the vessel length: a first zone for initial cooking, a second zone for finishing cooking, and a third zone for cooling. The screw conveyor segments the sausages into controlled batches, processing them through different thermal zones sequentially. This segmentation prevents overheating in any single location and ensures uniform cooking throughout the sausage batch while maintaining casing integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The screw conveyor acts as an intermediary mechanism between the cooking liquid and the sausages. It provides controlled contact, allowing the sausages to be conveyed through the cooking liquid at a regulated pace, ensuring even heat distribution without sudden thermal shocks that could cause casing rupture. The conveyor belt serves as a mediating surface that facilitates uniform thermal processing.
2Productivity
If high-speed conveyance is used, then productivity increases, but the food products experience uneven processing and potential rupture
Solution Approach 1:
The screw conveyor system provides dynamic control over the processing speed and positioning of sausages throughout the vessel. The conveyor can be adjusted to match the thermal processing requirements at different zones, maintaining optimal contact time and speed for uniform cooking while preventing rupture. This dynamic adjustment allows high productivity to be achieved without sacrificing processing uniformity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces traditional batch cooking methods with a continuous mechanical conveyance system that provides precise control over processing parameters. The screw conveyor mechanism substitutes for manual handling, enabling consistent, uniform processing at higher speeds while maintaining product integrity through controlled mechanical interaction.
3Device complexity
If the screw conveyor is positioned too close to the feed chute, then the device complexity is reduced, but the food products cannot be properly aligned and conveyed
Solution Approach 1:
The guide means are positioned to perform preliminary alignment of the sausages before they reach the screw conveyor. This preliminary action ensures that the sausages are properly oriented and positioned relative to the conveyor helix, enabling effective engagement and uniform conveying. The guide means prepare the products in advance, ensuring smooth transition and proper alignment without requiring complex positioning mechanisms at the conveyor interface.
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
Ensures efficient and uniform cooking and cooling of sausages by reducing the likelihood of casing rupture and ensuring consistent product alignment, allowing for continuous processing from cooking to cooling while maintaining product integrity.
Implementation Method 1
a screw conveyor having a helical screw feed, which is located within the processing vessel for conveying the food products through the processing liquid from the first end to the second end of the processing vessel
Implementation Method 2
The guide means may be in the form of at least one liquid jet disposed at the first end of the processing vessel, the liquid jet being operable to direct a stream of the processing liquid at the food products so as to guide the food products into optimal positions relative to the helical screw feed of the screw conveyer
Implementation Method 3
The discharge means may be in the form of a belt conveyor having gripping formations for gripping the food products
Data Source
AI summary
A food processing system 10 comprising a cooking apparatus 12 and a cooling apparatus 14. The apparatus 12, 14 are similar and are configured for processing sausages which have casings which are fragile and easily ruptured. The apparatus 12 comprises a processing vessel 16 for containing a cooking liquid, a feed chute 18, a guide means in the form of jets 56.1, 56.2 and 56.3, a screw conveyer 22 and a discharge conveyer 24. The sausages are fed into the vessel 16 via feed chute 18. The jets 56.1, 56.2 and 56.3 guide the sausages into optimal positions relative to the screw conveyer 22 which conveys the sausages to the discharge conveyer 24. The jets 56.1, 56.2 and 56.3 also separate the sausages ensuring that the sausages do not “bunch up” when deposited into the vessel 16 and also ensure that the sausages are aligned and travel in a direction substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the screw conveyer 22 thereby to reduce impact forces applied to the sausages by the conveyer 22.