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US 4,441,406 AGranted
Pasteurization apparatus
AssigneeMiller Brewing Company
InventorsKenneth W. Becker, Louis G. Friedrichs, Jr., Lev Kropp, Richard B. Straka
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AssigneeMiller Brewing Company
InventorsKenneth W. Becker, Louis G. Friedrichs, Jr., Lev Kropp, Richard B. Straka
Estimating the term…
The over-pasteurization of a product in a tunnel pasteurizer can result when the normal movement of the product through the pasteurizer is delayed. Over-pasteurization is prevented by cooling the product in the pasteurizing zone to reduce its temperature to a temperature at which no appreciable pasteurization occurs. The temperature of the product may be returned to pasteurizing temperatures when the delay no longer exists. An improved tunnel pasteurizer is described for preventing over-pasteurization of spraying the product with cool water to reduce its temperature. The preferred pasteurizer also includes an automatic level control system for the regenerative paired zones, an external water tank to recover and reuse energy and water usually wasted and a closed cooling system which provides for cooling of the pasteurizer water without the risk of cross-contamination of the cooling source and the pasteurizer.
In a tunnel pasteurizer in which the product to be pasteurized is successively moved on a conveyor through a preheat zone, a pasteurizing zone and a precool zone, the improvement which comprises cooling means in the pasteurizing zone for cooling the product in the pasteurizing zone to a temperature at which no appreciable pasteurization occurs when the conveyor stops, thus preventing the overpasteurization of the product.
In a tunnel pasteurizer in which the product to be pasteurized is successively moved on a conveyor through a preheat zone, a pasteurizing zone and a precool zone, the improvement which prevents overpasteurization from occurring when the conveyor stops because of failure of equipment subsequent to the tunnel pasteurizer, said improvement comprising cooling means in the pasteurizing zone for cooling the product in the pasteurizing zone to a temperature at which no appreciable pasteurization occurs.
In a tunnel pasteurizer in which the product to be pasteurized is successively moved on a conveyor through a preheat zone, a pasteurizing zone and a precool zone, the improvement which prevents overpasteurization and permits the conveyor fully loaded with product to be stopped in the pasteurizing zone when no product is entering the pasteurizer because of the failure of the equipment prior to the pasteurizer, said improvement comprising cooling means in the pasteurizing zone for cooling and maintaining the product in the pasteurizing zone at a temperature at which no appreciable pasteurizing occurs, thus permitting the maintenance of a conveyor fully loaded with product in the pasteurizer to obtain improved product conveying and thermal efficiency by maximum use of regenerative preheat and precool zones without overpasteurization.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.