Tank for treatment of foodstuffs contg. solid and liq. components - esp. red wine mash where tank dimensions provide optimal tank size and agitation effect for least capital cost

摘要

Tank for treatment of foodstuffs contg. liq. and solid components has a verticial cylindrical section (11) with a roof (12) and a floor (13), and an agitator (40) with a horizontal shaft (41). This agitator (40) traverses an approximately spherical reigon which is essentially impassable to the solid component. Novelty is that the vertical cross-section of the roof (12) should be made up of straight lines, and that the vertical distance (z) from the axis (42) of the agitator shaft (41) to the mid-point (15) of the roof (12) should be determined by the following relationship: z = k1H + k2R where H is the ave. internal height of the tank, R is the radius of the cylindrical tank section (11), k1 is a constant in the range 0.07-0.13 and k2 is a constant in the range 0.6 and 0.9. The distance (z) is also at least as great as the radius (R). The pref. values of the constants are k1 = 0.1 and k2 = 0.7, and the ratio of the height (H) to the dia. (D) of the cylindrical tank section (11) lies between 1.0 and 3.5 and is pref. equal to 1.5. USE/ADVANTAGE - Used in the design of tanks for the treatment of foodstuffs contg. liq. and solid components, and esp. for the treatment of red wine mash in which the mixt. is periodically agitated during fermentation in order to promote the extn. of the red colour from the grapes while avoiding damage to the grape skins, which would release undesirable constituents. The proposed tank occupies little space and provides the optimal tank size and agitation effect at the least possible cost.