Dual-zone dehydration tunnel
AssigneeSunsweet Growers, Inc.
InventorsBrian N. Pierce, Steven Ralph Rasmussen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A dehydration tunnel for fruits, vegetables, and other products reduces the vulnerability of the products to damage from carmelization and case hardening by dividing a row of product vessels into two segments, passing heated air simultaneously over both segments but in opposite directions, and advancing the row of vessels unidirectionally through the tunnel. Each vessel is thus exposed to a stream of heated air traversing the vessel in one direction, followed by a separate stream of heated air traversing the vessel in the opposite direction. This allows the tunnel to be operated at moderate temperatures and reduces the harmful temperature cycling of each vessel that is typical of tunnel dryers of the prior art.
Claims25
Apparatus for dehydrating a product retained in vessels, said apparatus comprising:
- a tunnel comprising an interior sized to receive a plurality of said vessels in a linear array, a vessel inlet at a first end of said tunnel and a vessel outlet at a second end of said tunnel, said vessel inlet and vessel outlet defining a direction of movement of said vessels through said tunnel, said tunnel interior comprising a first section adjacent to said vessel inlet and sized to receive at least one but less than all of said plurality of vessels and a second section adjacent to said vessel outlet and sized to receive all remaining vessels of said plurality, and said tunnel further comprising air flow means for passing a first stream of air through said first section toward and out of said vessel inlet and a second stream of air through said second section toward said vessel outlet simultaneously with, and in a direction opposite to, said first stream;
- and
- vessel conveying means for unidirectionally advancing vessels within said tunnel along said direction of movement and through said first and second sections in succession.
A process for the dehydration of a product retained in vessels, said process comprising:
- placing a plurality of said vessels in a linear array in a tunnel having a vessel inlet at a first end of said tunnel and a vessel outlet at a second end of said tunnel, said tunnel comprising a first section adjacent to said vessel inlet and a second section adjacent to said vessel outlet;
- feeding heated air to said tunnel in first and second streams simultaneously to cause said first stream to flow through said first section toward said vessel inlet and out of said tunnel through said vessel inlet, and said second stream to flow through said
- second section toward said vessel outlet, said streams causing dehydration of said product;
- and
- advancing said linear array of vessels together through said tunnel to cause individual vessels to pass through said first and second sections in succession.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.