Patent ID: 9572366
Date: 2017-02-21
CPC Classifications: A23B,A23C,A23L,A23V,F28D,F28F

Claim:
1. A heat exchanger for a food product, compromising: a shell having a first end, a second end, and a cooling media receiving chamber, the first end having a cooling media inlet, a food product outlet, and an air vent, the second end having a cooling media outlet and a food product inlet; a tubing for transporting the food product, the tubing disposed within the cooling media receiving chamber of the shell and extending between the food product inlet and the food product outlet of the shell; a source of a cooling media; a cooling media inlet pathway for transporting the cooling media from the source of the cooling media to the cooling media inlet of the shell; a recirculation pathway for transporting the cooling media from the cooling media outlet to the cooling media inlet; a cooling media outlet pathway for expelling the cooling media from the recirculation pathway; a first valve interposed in the cooling media inlet pathway so as to selectively control the flow of cooling media from the source of cooling media to the cooling media receiving chamber of the shell; a temperature sensing device in communication with the tubing downstream of the food product outlet and with the first valve such that when the temperature of the food product flowing from the shell exceeds a predetermined temperature, the first valve is actuated to permit cooling media to flow from the source of cooling media to the cooling media receiving chamber via the cooling media inlet pathway; a second valve interposed at an intersection of the cooling media recirculation pathway and the cooling media outlet pathway to selectively control the flow of cooling media from the cooling media receiving chamber to one of the cooling media recirculation pathway and the cooling media outlet pathway; and a level element in communication with the cooling media receiving chamber and the second valve such that when the level of the cooling media in the cooling media chamber exceeds a predetermined level, the second valve is actuated to divert the flow of the cooling media from the cooling media recirculation pathway to the cooling media outlet pathway, wherein the predetermined level of the cooling media is from about 75% to about 95% of a height of the cooling media receiving chamber, as measured from the second end to the first end so that the pressure within the cooling media receiving chamber is substantially equal to atmospheric pressure as the cooling media from the cooling media source flows into the cooling media receiving chamber.