A process and system in which solid droplets of a lipid product are prepared. The liquid lipid product is introduced into a freeze tunnel by one or more nozzles so as to form droplets of the liquid product. The droplets are introduced onto a conveyor belt at a first end of the freeze tunnel. The freeze tunnel is at a temperature sufficient that the droplets assume a semisolid state on or before contacting the conveyor belt and then become solid droplets as they pass through to a second end of the freeze tunnel.

A thermal processing apparatus (20) includes a spiral conveyor system (22) configured into an ascending spiral stack (26). An air balance tunnel (40) includes a tunnel housing (76) positioned inside of a thermal processing chamber adjacent an outlet opening (36). A conveyor belt (24) travels through the housing on its way out of the processing chamber. An air pervious ejector assembly (78) is positioned within the housing at an elevation above the conveyor belt (24). An air pervious evacuation sheet (80) is located within the housing at a location beneath the conveyor belt (24). An air pervious cover assembly (150) is positioned over the conveyor belt (24) at a location just before the conveyor belt enters the air balance tunnel (40). The cover sheet (150) is connectable to the ejector assembly (78) so as to remove the ejector assembly from the tunnel housing (76) by manually moving the cover assembly (150).

A method, system, and apparatus for cooling a product comprises a chilling assembly further comprising a liquid flow assembly including a main conduit, at least one delivery conduit attached to the main conduit, and at least one nozzle attached to the delivery conduit wherein liquid is distributed onto a product from the at least one nozzle; and an airflow assembly including an air pump and at least one input conduit wherein the air pump drives airflow through the input conduit; a conveyor assembly conveys the product through the chilling assembly and a drain pan is configured below the conveyor assembly for collecting drainage and waste.

Apparatus and method for treatment of a particulate material employs a conveyor belt for supporting the particulate material for transport and a source of gas for delivery through the conveyor belt to fluidize the particulate material. A gas distribution system is used for controlling the gas flow to create regions of greater and lesser fluidization. This approach avoids the use of mechanical agitation of the conveyor belt which improves efficiency and reliability. The apparatus and method find particular application in the handling of particulate foodstuffs in bulk when treatment such as freezing, heating, or blanching of individual food particles is required.

A spiral chiller and a method of chilling a food product in a spiral chiller using a cooling medium wherein (a) the food product is conveyed within the chiller by a spiral conveyor having a plurality of spiral flutes and (b) the cooling medium is discharged either upwardly and/or downwardly within, and/or laterally into, one or more vertical gaps between adjacent pairs of spiral flutes using one or more delivery duct structures which extend inside the interior of the product chilling chamber.

An apparatus provides pulsed impingement jets to a sub-chamber within an impingement hood of a freezer, and includes a blower having an inlet and an outlet at an interior of the freezer; a duct having a first end in fluid communication with the outlet and a second end opening into the sub-chamber; and a flow valve disposed in the duct proximate the second end opening, the flow valve movable in repetitive open and closed positions for providing repetitive, discrete pulses of the impingement jets from the second end opening of the duct into the sub-chamber.

A cooling channel is provided for cooling goods to be chilled, in particular food or pharmaceutical products. The cooling channel includes a cooling tower having an inlet end and an outlet end; a driven conveyor belt on which the goods to be chilled are arranged such that they can be conveyed through the cooling tower from the inlet end to the outlet end; a housing surrounding the conveyor belt and forming a cooling zone in the region of the conveyor belt; a filter unit for filtering air; a cooling unit for cooling the cooling zone; and at least one fan that interacts thermodynamically with the cooling unit and that conveys cooled air from the cooling unit to the cooling zone.

A contact drum freezer system includes a contact drum freezer, an endless product wrap belt and a cross feed conveyor. The contact drum freezer is mounted to revolve about an axis generally parallel to a main lane of transit. The endless product wrap belt has an intake shelf, an inner product-compressing run encircling most of the drum and an outer return run looping back to the intake shelf. The cross feed conveyor is situated in the main lane of transit and has a return run a and product-carrying run for transferring product laterally out of the main lane of transit and onto the intake shelf of the product wrap belt.

A processor of a sensor device receives a plurality of images capturing a scene that depicts at least a portion of a conveyer entering a treatment area of a food processing system. The processor processes one or more images, among the plurality of images, to detect one or more characteristics in the scene. Processing the one or more images includes detecting presence or absence of a product on the at least the portion of the conveyor depicted in the scene, and classifying the scene as having one or more characteristics among a predetermined set of characteristics. The sensor device provides characteristics information indicating the one or more characteristics detected in the scene to a controller. The characteristics information is to be used by the controller to control operation of one or both of the conveyor and the treatment area of the food processing system.

The efficiency of a device for cooling or heating objects on a belt that moves through a path of a helix, in which gaseous cooling or heating medium is circulated within the device, is improved by positioning fans that circulate the cooling or heating medium so that the fans are distanced from the top of the helix.