Apparatus for deheading and cleansing shrimp

摘要

Apparatus for deheading and cleansing shrimp in a continuous-flow product transport system for more efficient storage or peeling. The apparatus transports food product having weakly attached appendages, such as crustaceans and especially shrimp, along conduits in a fluid medium at a flow rate as controlled by a food pump. Upstream conduit defines a flow channel having a certain cross-sectional area; downstream conduit defines a flow channel having a cross-sectional area less than that of the upstream conduit. The narrowing of the flow channel in an intermediate conduit-connecting region causes an increase in the speed of the product-laden fluid in that region. The ratio of the downstream speed to the upstream speed is inversely proportional to the ratio of the cross-sectional area of the downstream channel to the upstream channel. The abruptness of the speed increase is determined by the nature of the intermediate region. A relatively abrupt narrowing of the flow channel in the intermediate region causes an abrupt speed increase, which creates hydrodynamic forces that tend to detach, in the case of shrimp, heads from the desirable tail meat. An abrupt speed increase of about four to one is preferable. In the higher-speed downstream flow channel, further cleansing of the shrimp of sand, dirt, and visceral fluids occurs. The tails and detached heads are strained from the dirty transport fluid prior to the segregation of tails and detached heads. Detached heads are discarded, and cleansed, headless tails are made available for efficient storage or peeling.