An apparatus for thawing frozen food products, comprising:
- a tank having first and second ends, and a heating liquid located therein for thawing the food products, the tank defining a plurality of sections along a length of the tank;
- a spiral-shaped blade having a rotational axis and located inside the tank for conveying the food products through the plurality of sections in a direction from the first end of the tank toward the second end of the tank along the length of the tank;
- a temperature controlling system configured to independently control the temperature of the heating liquid in each of the plurality of sections of the tank;
- and
- a plurality of air supply sources arranged along the length of the tank, the plurality of air supply sources configured to pump air into the heating liquid,
- wherein the temperature controlling system includes a plurality of heat supplying units arranged along the length of the tank, each of the plurality of sections including at least one of the heat supplying units,
- wherein each of the heat supplying units is arranged along a bottom portion of the tank and each of the heat supplying units is configured to upwardly inject a heating agent into the heating liquid toward a surface level of the heating liquid in the tank at an angle generally perpendicular to the surface level of the heating liquid to provide a substantially equally distributed and uniform temperature in the heating liquid along the length of the tank, each of the heat supplying units having an upwardly extending nozzle extending into the tank from a common heat supplying pipe connected to a heat supplying liquid source,
- wherein the temperature of the heating agent injected into the heating liquid is greater than the temperature of the heating liquid,
- wherein the air supply sources are different from the heat supplying units, each of the plurality of sections including at least one of the air supply units, each of the air supply sources having an air supply nozzle extending upwardly into the bottom portion of the tank and oriented to provide an air flow generally perpendicular to and toward the surface level of the heating liquid in the tank,
- wherein pumping air into the heating liquid creates air bubbles in the heating liquid for providing a buoyant force to food products sunken at the bottom of the tank.