Continuous freeze-drying plant - with multiple cascaded drying stations and multi-floor drying racks on rollers

摘要

A long tunnel has, at approx. its mid-height, a pair of tracks whose width is less than the width of the tunnel from whose upper side walls sepg. walls of insulation material protrude as far as the tracks. Futher party walls are aligned with those curtain walls in the lower part of the tunnel defining individual cells each contg. a blower for circulation of cold air through the upper section and back through air dryers filled with hygroscopic material in the lower section, the temp. of this air being regulated by individual sections conforms with the eutectic curve of the foodstuff. This is loaded onto individual, esp. perforated, floor trays at one end of the tunnel and these are placed in wheeled trolley frames running in the tracks; each frame has a thermally insulated base plate and front wall. A linear actuator mechanism at the loading end is used for stepped drive of the train of trolleys along the tracks as each is loaded.