Food Processing Vat With Zoned Temperature Control
AssigneeCheese & Whey Systems, Inc.
InventorsTimothy J. Isenberg, John E. Zirbel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A food processing vat is provided with a zoned heat transfer system that provides zoned temperature control to the vat. The zoned heat transfer system selectively transmits heat to or removes heat from different portions of a bottom wall and/or side wall(s) of the vat. A heat transfer fluid may be directed through the zoned heat transfer system along a flow path that is selected based on a target size and/or a target temperature of a batch of food product being processed in the vat.
Claims21
A vat system for processing liquid or semi-liquid compositions, comprising:
- a vat that includes a bottom wall and side walls extending upwardly from the bottom wall;
- a zoned heat transfer system selectively transmitting heat to or removing heat from different portions of at least one of the bottom and side walls of the vat.
A vat system for processing liquid or semi-liquid compositions, comprising:
- a vat that includes a bottom wall and a side wall extending upwardly from the bottom wall;
- a zoned heat transfer system that includes multiple heat transfer zones defined within the vat and selectively transmitting heat to or removing heat from at least one of the bottom and side walls;
- a heat transfer fluid within the zoned heat transfer system and being (i) heated for transmitting heat to the at least one of the bottom and side walls of the vat, or (ii) unheated for removing heat from the at least one of the bottom and side walls of the vat;
- and
- a diverter system within the heat transfer system that selectively directs a flow of the heat transfer fluid through the multiple heat transfer zones.
A method of processing a liquid or semi-liquid composition in a vat, comprising:
- determining (i) a target size of a batch of the composition to be processed in a vat, and (ii) a target temperature for processing the batch of the composition within the vat;
- delivering a heat transfer fluid to a zoned heat transfer system of the vat for transmitting heat to or removing heat from the batch of the composition;
- and
- directing the heat transfer fluid through the zoned heat transfer system along a flow path that is selected based on at least one of the target size and target temperature of the batch of food product.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.