Apparatus and method for drying plant and animal foodstuffs
AssigneeWealth & Research Trading Ltd.
InventorsSONIA DE BORTOLI GAZZUOLA, VITTORIO COGO
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for drying foodstuffs of plant or animal origin that includes introducing the foodstuffs to be dried into a drying chamber for drying and heating the foodstuffs to a temperature which causes an evaporation of water contained in the foodstuffs until the amount of water contained in the foodstuffs is reduced to a predetermined value indicating that the foodstuffs are dried. The heating of the foodstuffs is performed by generating an oscillating magnetic field such that prior to said heating, the pressure inside said drying chamber is reduced to a predetermined value below atmospheric pressure.
Claims20
A method for drying foodstuffs of plant or animal origin comprising introducing the foodstuffs to be dried into a drying chamber of an apparatus for drying said foodstuffs;
- heating said foodstuffs to a temperature such to cause an evaporation of water contained in said foodstuffs;
- maintaining said temperature until the amount of said water contained in said foodstuffs is reduced to a predetermined value indicating that the foodstuffs are dried;
- extracting the evaporated water from said drying chamber;
- extracting the dried foodstuffs from said drying chamber, wherein said heating is performed by generating an oscillating magnetic field which hits said foodstuffs, that, prior to said heating, the pressure inside said drying chamber is reduced to a value lower than atmospheric pressure, between 0.01 mbar and 999 mbar, said value being selected so that the evaporation of the water contained in said foodstuffs takes place at a drying temperature sufficiently low so as to not damage nutritional and organoleptic properties of said foodstuffs, wherein said oscillating magnetic field has a frequency between 10 Mhz and 3000 Mhz.
An apparatus for drying foodstuffs of plant or animal origin, comprising a casing within which a drying chamber, heating means for heating said foodstuffs in said drying chamber, wherein the fact that said casing is made watertight, wherein said drying chamber is connected to vacuum generating means, suitable for reducing a pressure inside said drying chamber to a value below atmospheric pressure;
- that said heating means comprise at least one pair of electrodes and a generator of electromagnetic waves, wherein said at least one pair of electrodes comprises a first electrode connected to said generator of electromagnetic waves and a second electrode connected to ground.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.