Patent ID: 7600542

Claim:
A pasteurization station for the pasteurizing of products in containers that are handled in a stream of containers by sequential sections at least for heating, pasteurizing, and cooling the products in containers by means of liquid that is poured over them, and comprising a tunnel housing, transport structure, sprayers, pans, and pumps, wherein the tunnel housing is formed in a modular configuration from any desired number of flexible, exchangeable segments, whereby said segments extend at a right angle or parallel to a direction of conveyance of containers in the tunnel housing, and can be lined up one behind another and supported on at least one of: zone tanks and hot water tanks that are oriented parallel to or along said direction of conveyance, and there is at least one pipeline element that is pre-assembled in segments and disposed underneath the tunnel housing segments, said at least one pipeline element being configured and disposed to recycle poured liquid for further use in heating, pasteurizing, and cooling of the products in containers, and wherein: next to the external zone tanks lined up in a row, and underneath the segments supported on said tanks, a space is provided for service on the lower areas; the zone tanks in a pre-assembled configuration are equipped with at least pipelines, valves, motors, and cabling; a feed segment and a discharge segment can be attached on the ends to the segments that form a compact housing structure in a modular arrangement; the compact housing structure is bordered only by narrow side panels, and the side panels form a watertight housing side wall without gaskets or seals and are held at least in the lower area in a frame that conducts and drains water, and the segments have at least one conveyor belt substructure, one return-side belt support, distributors for the spray water and a roof structure; the segments have means to simplify the assembly and installation of the segments, said means comprises one of: assembly rollers and casters, the direction of action of which casters can be adjusted, and wherein the segments can be rolled and/or slid into position in a guided manner on the hot water and/or zone tanks on which they are supported, and the frame of the segments is realized from rectangular tubes; and spray tubes are an integral component of the segment construction and provide the system with rigidity, and the segments positioned on the zone and/or hot water tanks can be displaced and/or positioned in the horizontal plane, and the standardized housing segments are realized in the form of assembly modules, the dimensions of which correspond to the allowable inside dimensions of standard freight containers.