Apparatus for cooking and drying organic material

Abstract

The present invention relates to a new device and a way to assemble such a device for both cooking and drying organic material in the process of making meal. The device of the present invention has a large area for heat exchange and scrapers which stir the material in the container rather than transferring it around in circles. The method of assembling the device allows an accurate and convenient assembly so that the scrapers thoroughly scrape all inner surfaces of the device.

Claims

1. An apparatus for heating or removing a water phase from organic material, the apparatus comprising: a container, said container being substantially horizontal and where the lower portion of the container has a cylindrical shape, said container further comprising an inlet and an outlet, a plurality of semi-cylindrical disc-shaped hollow compartments parallel and interspace arranged in the container, a jacket arranged around the container for conducting heating media, an axis arranged centrally within the container, and scrapes attached to, and rotating on the centrally arranged axis, said scrapes being shaped to scrape an outer surface of two parallel and interspace arranged disc-shaped hollow compartments and extending towards and to scrape the inner surface of the container, wherein the semi-cylindrical disc-shaped hollow compartments comprise hollow protrusions which connect to the jacket through connection openings in the container, said protrusions being positioned on each side in the upper part and in the lowest part of the semi-cylindrical disc-shaped hollow compartments.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the scrapes extend fully to the inner surface of the container.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the arm of each scrape has a spring element.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the scrapes have different scraping members, two disc scrape members to scrape the discs on each side and one end scrape member to scrape inner surface of the container.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the scrapes have hollow space between the different scraping members.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the scrapes are not arranged in parallel on the axis.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the container is raised at the in-feed end above the out-feed end of the container.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the inner surface of the container comprises vertical recesses leading to the connection openings in the side of the container.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the blade of the scrapes is shaped to direct the organic material over to the next space between two parallel and interspace arranged disc-shaped hollow compartments, from the in-feed end and towards the out-feed end of the container.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heating media in the jacket is steam.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is a cooker or a dryer.

12. A method for assembling an apparatus for heating or removing a water phase from organic material comprising: providing a container, said container being substantially horizontal and where the lower portion of the container has a cylindrical shape, said container further comprising an inlet and an outlet, arranging a plurality of disc-shaped hollow compartments parallel and interspaced in the container, arranging a jacket arranged around the container and connecting to the said disc-shaped hollow compartments to the jacked through openings in the container, arranging an axis centrally within the cylindrical container, and providing scrapes attached to, and rotating on the centrally arranged axis, said scrapes being shaped to scrape an outer surface of two parallel and interspace arranged disc-shaped hollow compartments and extending towards and to scrape the inner surface of the container, wherein, the semi-cylindrical disc-shaped hollow compartments comprise hollow protrusions which are connected to the jacket through connection openings in the container, said protrusions being positioned on each side in the upper part and in the lowest part of the semi-cylindrical disc-shaped hollow compartments.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein each semi-cylindrical disc-shaped hollow compartments is attached to the openings in the container from the outside.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein each semi-cylindrical disc-shaped hollow compartments is attached to the openings in the container by welding.

15. The method according to claim 12, wherein the jacked is arranged around the container after the semi-cylindrical disc-shaped hollow compartments have been attached to the container.

16. The method according to claim 12, wherein an opening at the top of the container is closed after the semi-cylindrical disc-shaped hollow compartments, the axis and the scrapes have been arranged within the container and the semi-cylindrical disc-shaped hollow compartments have been attached to the container.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 schematically shows the top and perspective views of a device for heating and/or drying organic material.

(2) FIG. 2A is a perspective view showing the discs and scrapes in a first angle.

(3) FIG. 2B is a perspective view showing the discs and scrapes in a second angle.

(4) FIG. 3 is an enlarged portions view of FIG. 2A.

DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS EMBODIMENTS

(5) In the following, exemplary embodiments of the invention will be described, referring to the figures. The embodiments shown in the drawings are explained with reference numbers. These examples are provided to provide further understanding of the invention, without limiting its scope. The skilled person will understand that the drawings, described below, are for illustration purposes only. The drawings are not intended to limit the scope of the present teachings in any way.

(6) In the following description, a series of steps are described. The skilled person will appreciate that unless required by the context, the order of steps is not critical for the resulting configuration and its effect. Further, it will be apparent to the skilled person that irrespective of the order of steps, the presence or absence of time delay between steps, can be present between some or all of the described steps.

(7) Referring to FIG. 1 there is schematically shown a top view (A) and a perspective view (B) of the device of the present invention for heating and/or drying organic material, such as in the process of generating meal from organic material from fish or meat. The device shown in FIG. 1 comprises a semi-cylindrical container 1, where the upper part of the cylindrical shaped container has a rectangular shaped compartment (open at the top in this drawing to show the discs and the scrapes). The container has an inlet 2 (not shown) and an outlet 3 on each end. The semi-cylindrical container 1 comprises a plurality of semi-cylindrical disc-shaped hollow compartments 4 arranged in a parallel and interspaced manner within the container. A jacket 5 is arranged around the cylindrical portion of the container 1 for conducting heating medium around the container for heating up the surface of the container. A rotating axis 6 is arranged centrally within the semi-cylindrical container 1 for mounting scrapes 7 onto. The rotating axis 6, moves the scrapes 7, which are shaped to scrape the outer surface of two parallel and interspace arranged semi-cylindrical discs and the outer surface of the container.

(8) In FIG. 2 the arrangement of the discs and the scrapes within the device of the present invention is shown from two different angles (A and B). The disc-shaped hollow compartments 5 are shown arranged side by side, where a connection portion on each side of the upper side of the dish sits in a recess on each side of the inner side of the container 1. Upon assembly, the upper side of the container is open 8 and therefore the various components of the device, such as discs, axis and scrapes can be arranged and adjusted within the container before it is closed. The figure shows how the disc-shaped hollow compartments are connected to the wall of the container in three different places in the embodiment shown in this drawing, two on each upper side and one centrally in the bottom of the container. The discs are not connected directly as the axis is not connected to the discs but merely has the function of rotating the scrapes. The figure shows that the scrapes in each space between two disc-shaped hollow compartments can be in a different position as compared to the scrapes in the next space between two disc-shaped hollow compartments. The figure also shows that the discs do not connect to the whole circumference of the cylindrical portion of the container, but connect to the inner surface of the container through connection members 9 in the disc-shaped hollow compartments with open spaces 12 between connection members where part of the material flows through

(9) In FIG. 3 an enlarged portion of FIG. 2A is shown. The drawing shows that the scrapes have 3 different scraping members, two (10a and 10b) to scrape the discs on each side as well as the end scrape member (10c) to scrape inner surface of the container. The scrapes are hollow between the different scraping members, i.e. there is a space 11 between the 3 different scraping members 10a-c. This means that the scrapes are actually stirring the organic material or whirling it in the space between two disc-shaped hollow compartments or over to the next space between two disc-shaped hollow compartments, but not moving the material constantly in circles around the axis. As can be seen in the figure the scrapes are not arranged in parallel on the axis, but have different position on the axis with respect to the discs. This means that while some scrapes may be scraping the lower part of the chamber and thereby scraping material off the discs and stirring the material, other scrapes may be rotating above the disc upper portion of the semi-cylindrical disc. This reduces the power needed to rotate the axis and thereby the scrapes.

(10) As the discs do not connect to the whole circumference of the cylindrical portion of the container, a space 12 is formed between the disc-shaped hollow compartment 4 and the inner side of the container. In addition to that, the space above the discs allows the organic material to be transferred from one space to another from the in-feed end to the out-feed end of the container. The drawing further shows how the disc-shaped hollow compartments are placed into the container via slits 13. The connection member of the disc-shaped hollow compartment then slides down the slit and at the bottom of the slit is an opening to connect the disc to the jacket 5 to allow flow of heating media between the jacket and the discs.

(11) As used herein, including in the claims, singular forms of terms are to be construed as also including the plural form and vice versa, unless the context indicates otherwise. Thus, it should be noted that as used herein, the singular forms a, an, and the include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

(12) Throughout the description and claims, the terms comprise, including, having, and contain and their variations should be understood as meaning including but not limited to, and are not intended to exclude other components.

(13) The present invention also covers the exact terms, features, values and ranges etc. in case these terms, features, values and ranges etc. are used in conjunction with terms such as about, around, generally, substantially, essentially, at least etc. (i.e., about 5 shall also cover exactly 5 or substantially constant shall also cover exactly constant).

(14) It will be appreciated that variations to the foregoing embodiments of the invention can be made while still falling within the scope of the invention can be made while still falling within scope of the invention. Features disclosed in the specification, unless stated otherwise, can be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose. Thus, unless stated otherwise, each feature disclosed represents one example of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.

(15) Use of exemplary language, such as for instance, such as, for example and the like, is merely intended to better illustrate the invention and does not indicate a limitation on the scope of the invention unless so claimed. Any steps described in the specification may be performed in any order or simultaneously, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

(16) All of the features and/or steps disclosed in the specification can be combined in any combination, except for combinations where at least some of the features and/or steps are mutually exclusive. In particular, preferred features of the invention are applicable to all aspects of the invention and may be used in any combination.