Title of Invention	A MOBILE DEVICE FOR CRYO-GENICALLY INDIVIDUALLY QUICK FREEZING OF PRODUCTS SUCH AS FISH, MARIN PRODUCTS, MEAT, FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
Abstract	A mobile device for cryogenically individually quick freezing (IQF) of products such as fish, marine products, meat, fruits and vegetables, the device comprising an insulated tunnel (17) having a conveyor assembly (7, 8, 9) mounted on one side of the insulated tunnel (17), a moving chain (8) being driven by a pulley drive (9); a plurality of tie-rods (18) supported by rails (14) rigidly fixed on the moving chains (8); a nitrogen dewar (3) disposed at one end of said insulated tunnel (17); a liquid nitrogen tank (1) provided at the end of the insulated tunnel (17) receiving pressurized liquid nitrogen from said nitrogen dewar (3); and a plurality of trays (6) having hooking means suspendedly interposed on said tie-rods (18), each tray (6) accommodating unfrozen food articles is rotatably axially traveling over said conveyor assembly (7,8,9) such that said trays (6) being dipped into said liquid nitrogen tank (1) for complete freezing of the food article. The conveyor assembly (7,8,9) is connected to a variable voltage variable frequency drive (12, 13) through a belt-pulley drive to maintain a predetermined travel-speed of said trays (6).

Title of Invention

A MOBILE DEVICE FOR CRYO-GENICALLY INDIVIDUALLY QUICK FREEZING OF PRODUCTS SUCH AS FISH, MARIN PRODUCTS, MEAT, FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

Abstract

A mobile device for cryogenically individually quick freezing (IQF) of products such as fish, marine products, meat, fruits and vegetables, the device comprising an insulated tunnel (17) having a conveyor assembly (7, 8, 9) mounted on one side of the insulated tunnel (17), a moving chain (8) being driven by a pulley drive (9); a plurality of tie-rods (18) supported by rails (14) rigidly fixed on the moving chains (8); a nitrogen dewar (3) disposed at one end of said insulated tunnel (17); a liquid nitrogen tank (1) provided at the end of the insulated tunnel (17) receiving pressurized liquid nitrogen from said nitrogen dewar (3); and a plurality of trays (6) having hooking means suspendedly interposed on said tie-rods (18), each tray (6) accommodating unfrozen food articles is rotatably axially traveling over said conveyor assembly (7,8,9) such that said trays (6) being dipped into said liquid nitrogen tank (1) for complete freezing of the food article. The conveyor assembly (7,8,9) is connected to a variable voltage variable frequency drive (12, 13) through a belt-pulley drive to maintain a predetermined travel-speed of said trays (6).

Full Text	The invention relates to a mobile device for cryogenically individually quick freezing of fish, marine products, meat, fruits and vegetables. Amongst the various food preservation techniques, refrigeration or freezing is one of commercially viable means, especially when the objective is to preserve the original nutritional value and sensory properties of the food product. One of the recent addition to the freezing preservation techniques is the introduction of the concept of individually Quick Freezing (IQF) of foods. The phrase IQF is self-explanatory, which has several advantages over bulk packaged or unpacked freezing of food. PRIOR ART Presently commercial freezing is accomplished by freezing equipments, which may be divided into the following groups based on the basic method for extracting heat from food products: 1 . Air blast freezing, where air at relatively high velocities is circulated over the food product. 2. Contact freezing, where food products (packed or unpacked) are placed between two cold metal plates or surfaces refrigerated with suitable refrigerants. 3. Immersion freezing, where food products are immersed in a low temperature brine or other suitable refrigerant. - 2 - 4. Liquid refrigerant freezing, where food products are immersed in or sprayed with liquid freezant at atmospheric pressure. The vaporized coolant is subsequently recondensed by evaporators in a conventional refrigerant system. 5. Cryogenic freezing, where food products are exposed to an atmosphere below -60 C, which is achieved by spraying liquid nitrogen or liquid carbon dioxide or liquid freon etc. into the freezing chamber. Hence, commercial freezing methods can generally be classified into two groups, viz., conventional freezing e.g. , air blast freezing, contact plate freezing, brine freezing etc. and cryogenic freezing, e.g. liquid nitrogen, liquid carbon dioxide, dry ice, liquid freon freezing etc. In the international market continuous cryogenic freezers available are mostly of liquid nitrogen spray type. Continuos Cryogenic freezers with spraying of liquid carbon dioxide are also available. There are disadvantages associated with the present system of commercial freezing methods e.g. conventional freezing and cryogenic freezing. The main disadvantages associated with the present system of commercial freezing is that it is costly due to high cost of liquid nitrogen. Another disadvantages associated with the present system of commercial freezing is that the availability of nitrogen is very limited. - 3 - Yet another disadvantage associated with the present system of commercial freezing is that liquid nitrogen freezers are costly. Therefore the main object of the present invention is to propose a device for cryogenic freezing of food material which is user friendly and is simple and economical to operate. Another object of the present invention is to propose a device for cryogenic freezing in which the food material, whether it is fish, mean, fruit or vegetable is frozen completely.. Yet another object of the present invention is to propose a device for cryogenic freezing in which the temperature of the food material is brought down sufficiently so that the food material can be preserved for a long time. Still another object of the present invention is to propose a device for cryogenic freezing in which the freezing time is instantaneous which is a measure of ascertaining the keeping of the quality of food material. Further object of the present invention is to propose a device for cryogenic freezing in which the losses upon thawing are virtually negligible. According to the present invention there is provided a mobile device for cryogenically individually quick freezing -4- moving chain suspended on the sprockets being driven by a pulley-drive; a plurality of tie-rods supported by rails rigidly fixed an the moving chains: a nitrogen dewar containing pressurised liquid nitrogen disposed at one end of the insulated tunnels a liquid nitrogen tank provided at the closed end of the insulated tunnel receiving pressurised liquid nitrogen continuously from said nitrogen dewar via a transfer line to maintain a desired level of liquid nitrogen therein: and a plurality of trays having hooking means suspendedly interposed on the tie-rods, each tray accommodating unfrozen food articles rotatably axially travelling over the conveyor assembly such that the trays individually sequentially being cooled by gaseous nitrogen and thereafter beinq dipped into said liquid nitrogen tank for complete freezing of the food article before the trays are returned to seat back on the rails.The conveyor assembly is operably connected to a variable voltage variable frequency drive through a belt-pulley drive to maintain a predetermined travel-speed of the trays in registration with a desired coaling and dipping time of the food articles in the nitrogen tank to achieve an appropriate preservation parameters. 4A nitrogen dewar through a supply pipe, a chain pulley conveyor assembly driven by sprockets, said pulley is driven by a variable speed drive assembly and a plurality of trays suspended from tie rods fixed to said chains, the assembly of said conveyor assembly and said nitrogen tank is arranged in an insulated tunnel, said assembly of insulated chamber with said drive assembly is mounted on wheels. The nature of the invention, its objective and further advantages residing in the same will be apparent from the following description made with reference to non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the invention represented in the accompanying drawings. Figure 1: schematic diagram of the continuous tunnel freezer; Figure 2 : Detail of an individual tray In accordance with the present invention the device with the bryogenically individually quick freezing which is a continuous tunnel ( 17) freezer with liquid nitrogen dipping facility: in a nitrogefi tank (1). The food materials are arranged in trays (6) individually. The trays (6) are suspended from tie rods (18) attached to moving chains (8) suspended on sprockets (7) mounted in an insulated tunnel (17). The Teflon coated tie rods ( 18) are supported by rails (14) coated with Teflon to reduce friction. The rails ( 14) are provided with supports ( 15). The food material is - 5 - initially cooled by the gaseous nitrogen obtained from the boiling of liquid nitrogen when the food material comes in contact with liquid nitrogen. The cooled food material is dipped into liquid nitrogen tank (1) which is kept continuously at a predominate level in an insulated container for a predetermined time and returns through the chain conveyor assembly. After coming out of liquid nitrogen tank (1), while returning back, during a small part of the travel, the tray (6) weight is supported by the tie rod ( 18), till it again seats on the rail ( 14). The level of the liquid nitrogen is indicated by level indicator (5) and maintained by supplying liquid nitrogen continuously from a liquid nitrogen dewar (3) which is pressurized by compressed air from air compressor (4) to make up the volume of liquid nitrogen in the tank (1) depleted due to evaporation when it comes in contact with food material. The temperature of the food material is maintained at the desired temperature during its return journey through the tunnel by the evaporated gaseous nitrogen. The chain conveyor assembly is attahced to a variable speed drive assembly (16) to obtain desired linear speed of the conveying trays (6). The conveyor pulley (9) is attached to a reduction gear ( 13), which is driven by a motor (12). At the bottom of the liquid nitrogen tank a liquid transfer line fitted with a regulating valve ( 10) is provided in order to drain out remaining liquid nitrogen, - 6 - which otherwise would boil off. The liquid nitrogen level is maintained with the help of a float valve (2) .When the desired level of liquid nitrogen is achieved a ball which is attached to the float valve (2) shown in Fig. 1 , rises and closes the open end of the LN2 transfer line coming to the tank (1). One pointer is attached to the rod, which holds the floating valve (2), acts as the level indicator (5). The tunnel (17) is highly insulated in order to minimize the loss of liquid nitrogen by the heat infiltration from the ambient surrounding. The whole tunnel ( 17) is rested on wheels ( 13) in order to provide movability of the tunnel (17). The tunnel ( 17) freezer is very simple in operation and devoid of any maintenance. The insulated tunnel (17) is provided with support column (11) and joints (20). Figure 2 shows an individual tray. The trays (6) are coated with Teflon and are; perforated (19). The Teflon coating is provided to prevent sticking of shrimp to the tray bottom. To make cryogenic freezers more entrepreneur's friendly, a liquid nitrogen refrigerated continuous IQF freezer has been developed. In this method the food material be it fish, meat, fruit or vegetable is dipped into liquid nitrogen for a predetermined time so that the food material is frozen completely. The time of dipping is a vital parameter since over dipping would unnecessarily lower down the temperature of the food material below the pre set temperature and under dipping would not bring down the temperature sufficiently so that - 7 - the food material can be preserved for a long time. The quality of the frozen food is maintained to the highest level since the freezing time, which is a measure of ascertaining the keeping quality of the food material is instantaneous. The losses upon thawing are virtually negligible since very minute ice crystals are obtained upon dipping in liquid nitrogen. The invention described hereinabove is in relation to a non - limiting embodiment and as defined by the accompanying claims. - 8 - We Claim: 1. A mobile device for cryogenically individually quick freezing (IQF) of products such as fish, marine products, meat, fruits and vegetables, the device comprising an insulated tunnel (17) open at one end having a conveyor assembly (7, 8, 9) consisting of a plurality of sprockets (7) mounted at least on one side of the insulated tunnel (17), a moving chain (8) suspended on the sprockets (7) being driven by a pulley drive (9); a plurality of tie-rods (18) supported by rails (14) rigidly fixed on the moving chains (8); a nitrogen dewar (3) containing pressurized liquid nitrogen disposed at one end of said insulated tunnel (17); a liquid nitrogen tank (1) provided at the closed end of the insulated tunnel (17) receiving pressurized liquid nitrogen continuously from said nitrogen dewar (3) via a transfer line to maintain a desired level of liquid nitrogen therein; and a plurality of trays (6) having hooking means suspendedly interposed on said tie-rods (18), each tray (6) accommodating unfrozen food articles rotatably axially traveling over said conveyor assembly (7,8,9) such that said trays (6) individually sequentially being cooled by gaseous nitrogen and thereafter being dipped into said liquid nitrogen tank(l) for complete freezing of the food article before the trays (6) are returned to seat back on said rails (14), Characterized in that said conveyor assembly (7,8,9) is operably connected to a variable voltage variable frequency drive (12, 13) through a belt-pulley drive to maintain a predetermined travel-speed of said trays (6) in registration with a desired cooling and dipping time of the food articles in said nitrogen tank (1) to achieve an appropriate preservation parameters. 9. 2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said liquid nitrogen tank (1) is provided with a regulating valve (10) at the bottom. 3. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said nitrogen dewar (3) is pressurized by compressed air from an air compressor (4) connected to said nitrogen dewar. 4. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said variable speed drive assembly comprises a motor (12) and a reduction gear unit (13). 5. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said tie-rods are Teflon coated. 6. A device as claimed in claim l, wherein said rails (14) are coated with Teflon. 7. A device as claimed in claim 6, wherein said rails (14) are provided with supports (15). 8. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said insulated tunnel (17) is provided with support column (11) and joints (20). 9. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said liquid nitrogen tank (1) is provided with a level indicator (5). 10. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said liquid nitrogen tank (1) is provided with a float valve (2) and connected to said transfer line. 11 .A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said trays (6) are coated with Teflon and are perforated. 10. 12. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the insulated tunnel (17) and the variable voltage frequency drive (12,13) are mounted on wheels (13). 11 13. A device for cryogenically individually quick freezing of products such as fish, marine products, meat, fruits and vegetables as described hereinabove and illustrated in the accompanying drawings. A mobile device for cryogenically individually quick freezing (IQF) of products such as fish, marine products, meat, fruits and vegetables, the device comprising an insulated tunnel (17) having a conveyor assembly (7, 8, 9) mounted on one side of the insulated tunnel (17), a moving chain (8) being driven by a pulley drive (9); a plurality of tie-rods (18) supported by rails (14) rigidly fixed on the moving chains (8); a nitrogen dewar (3) disposed at one end of said insulated tunnel (17); a liquid nitrogen tank (1) provided at the end of the insulated tunnel (17) receiving pressurized liquid nitrogen from said nitrogen dewar (3); and a plurality of trays (6) having hooking means suspendedly interposed on said tie-rods (18), each tray (6) accommodating unfrozen food articles is rotatably axially traveling over said conveyor assembly (7,8,9) such that said trays (6) being dipped into said liquid nitrogen tank (1) for complete freezing of the food article. The conveyor assembly (7,8,9) is connected to a variable voltage variable frequency drive (12, 13) through a belt-pulley drive to maintain a predetermined travel-speed of said trays (6).

Full Text

The invention relates to a mobile device for cryogenically
individually quick freezing of fish, marine products, meat, fruits and vegetables. Amongst the various food preservation techniques, refrigeration or freezing is one of commercially viable means, especially when the objective is to preserve the original nutritional value and sensory properties of the food product. One of the recent addition to the freezing preservation techniques is the introduction of the concept of individually Quick Freezing (IQF) of foods. The phrase IQF is self-explanatory, which has several advantages over bulk packaged or unpacked freezing of food.
PRIOR ART
Presently commercial freezing is accomplished by freezing equipments, which may be divided into the following groups based on the basic method for extracting heat from food products:
1 . Air blast freezing, where air at relatively high velocities is circulated over the food product.
2. Contact freezing, where food products (packed or unpacked) are placed between two cold metal plates or surfaces refrigerated with suitable refrigerants.
3. Immersion freezing, where food products are immersed in a low temperature brine or other suitable refrigerant.
- 2 -

4. Liquid refrigerant freezing, where food products are immersed in or sprayed with liquid freezant at atmospheric pressure. The vaporized coolant is subsequently recondensed by evaporators in a conventional refrigerant system.
5. Cryogenic freezing, where food products are exposed to an atmosphere below -60 C, which is achieved by spraying liquid nitrogen or liquid carbon dioxide or liquid freon etc. into the freezing chamber. Hence, commercial freezing methods can generally be classified into two groups, viz., conventional freezing e.g. , air blast freezing, contact plate freezing, brine freezing etc. and cryogenic freezing, e.g. liquid nitrogen, liquid carbon dioxide, dry ice, liquid freon freezing etc.
In the international market continuous cryogenic freezers available are mostly of liquid nitrogen spray type. Continuos Cryogenic freezers with spraying of liquid carbon dioxide are also available.
There are disadvantages associated with the present system of commercial freezing methods e.g. conventional freezing and cryogenic freezing.
The main disadvantages associated with the present system of commercial freezing is that it is costly due to high cost of liquid nitrogen.
Another disadvantages associated with the present system of commercial freezing is that the availability of nitrogen is very limited.
- 3 -

Yet another disadvantage associated with the present system of commercial freezing is that liquid nitrogen freezers are costly.
Therefore the main object of the present invention is to propose a device for cryogenic freezing of food material which is user friendly and is simple and economical to operate.
Another object of the present invention is to propose a device for cryogenic freezing in which the food material, whether it is fish, mean, fruit or vegetable is frozen completely..
Yet another object of the present invention is to propose a device for cryogenic freezing in which the temperature of the food material is brought down sufficiently so that the food material can be preserved for a long time.
Still another object of the present invention is to propose a device for cryogenic freezing in which the freezing time is instantaneous which is a measure of ascertaining the keeping of the quality of food material.
Further object of the present invention is to propose a device for cryogenic freezing in which the losses upon thawing are virtually negligible.
According to the present invention there is provided a mobile device for cryogenically individually quick freezing -4-

moving chain suspended on the sprockets being driven by a pulley-drive; a plurality of tie-rods supported by rails rigidly fixed an the moving chains: a nitrogen dewar containing pressurised liquid nitrogen disposed at one end of the insulated tunnels a liquid nitrogen tank provided at the closed end of the insulated tunnel receiving pressurised liquid nitrogen continuously from said nitrogen dewar via a transfer line to maintain a desired level of liquid nitrogen therein: and a plurality of trays having hooking means suspendedly interposed on the tie-rods, each tray accommodating unfrozen food articles rotatably axially travelling over the conveyor assembly such that the trays individually sequentially being cooled by gaseous nitrogen and thereafter beinq dipped into said liquid nitrogen tank for complete freezing of the food article before the trays are returned to seat back on the rails.The conveyor assembly is operably connected to a variable voltage variable frequency drive through a belt-pulley drive to maintain a predetermined travel-speed of the trays in registration with a desired coaling and dipping time of the food articles in the nitrogen tank to achieve an appropriate preservation parameters.
4A
nitrogen dewar through a supply pipe, a chain pulley conveyor assembly driven by sprockets, said pulley is driven by a variable speed drive assembly and a plurality of trays suspended from tie rods fixed to said chains, the assembly of said conveyor assembly and said nitrogen tank is arranged in an insulated tunnel, said assembly of insulated chamber with said drive assembly is mounted on wheels.
The nature of the invention, its objective and further advantages residing in the same will be apparent from the following description made with reference to non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the invention represented in the accompanying drawings.
Figure 1: schematic diagram of the continuous tunnel freezer;
Figure 2 : Detail of an individual tray In accordance with the present invention the device with the bryogenically individually quick freezing which is a continuous tunnel ( 17) freezer with liquid nitrogen dipping facility: in a nitrogefi tank (1).
The food materials are arranged in trays (6) individually. The trays (6) are suspended from tie rods (18) attached to moving chains (8) suspended on sprockets (7) mounted in an insulated tunnel (17). The Teflon coated tie rods ( 18) are supported by rails (14) coated with Teflon to reduce friction. The rails ( 14) are provided with supports ( 15). The food material is
- 5 -

initially cooled by the gaseous nitrogen obtained from the boiling of liquid nitrogen when the food material comes in contact with liquid nitrogen. The cooled food material is dipped into liquid nitrogen tank (1) which is kept continuously at a predominate level in an insulated container for a predetermined time and returns through the chain conveyor assembly. After coming out of liquid nitrogen tank (1), while returning back, during a small part of the travel, the tray (6) weight is supported by the tie rod ( 18), till it again seats on the rail ( 14). The level of the liquid nitrogen is indicated by level indicator (5) and maintained by supplying liquid nitrogen continuously from a liquid nitrogen dewar (3) which is pressurized by compressed air from air compressor (4) to make up the volume of liquid nitrogen in the tank (1) depleted due to evaporation when it comes in contact with food material. The temperature of the food material is maintained at the desired temperature during its return journey through the tunnel by the evaporated gaseous nitrogen. The chain conveyor assembly is attahced to a variable speed drive assembly (16) to obtain desired linear speed of the conveying trays (6). The conveyor pulley (9) is attached to a reduction gear ( 13), which is driven by a motor (12). At the bottom of the liquid nitrogen tank a liquid transfer line fitted with a regulating valve ( 10) is provided in order to drain out remaining liquid nitrogen,
- 6 -

which otherwise would boil off. The liquid nitrogen level is maintained with the help of a float valve (2) .When the desired level of liquid nitrogen is achieved a ball which is attached to the float valve (2) shown in Fig. 1 , rises and closes the open end of the LN2 transfer line coming to the tank (1). One pointer is attached to the rod, which holds the floating valve (2), acts as the level indicator (5). The tunnel (17) is highly insulated in order to minimize the loss of liquid nitrogen by the heat infiltration from the ambient surrounding. The whole tunnel ( 17) is rested on wheels ( 13) in order to provide movability of the tunnel (17). The tunnel ( 17) freezer is very simple in operation and devoid of any maintenance. The insulated tunnel (17) is provided with support column (11) and joints (20).
Figure 2 shows an individual tray. The trays (6) are coated with Teflon and are; perforated (19). The Teflon
coating is provided to prevent sticking of shrimp to the tray bottom.
To make cryogenic freezers more entrepreneur's friendly, a liquid nitrogen refrigerated continuous IQF freezer has been developed. In this method the food material be it fish, meat, fruit or vegetable is dipped into liquid nitrogen for a predetermined time so that the food material is frozen completely. The time of dipping is a vital parameter since over dipping would unnecessarily lower down the temperature of the food material below the pre set temperature and under dipping would not bring down the temperature sufficiently so that
- 7 -

the food material can be preserved for a long time. The quality of the frozen food is maintained to the highest level since the freezing time, which is a measure of ascertaining the keeping quality of the food material is instantaneous. The losses upon thawing are virtually negligible since very minute ice crystals are obtained upon dipping in liquid nitrogen.
The invention described hereinabove is in relation to a non - limiting embodiment and as defined by the accompanying claims.
- 8 -

We Claim:
1. A mobile device for cryogenically individually quick freezing (IQF) of products such as fish, marine products, meat, fruits and vegetables, the device comprising an insulated tunnel (17) open at one end having a conveyor assembly (7, 8, 9) consisting of a plurality of sprockets (7) mounted at least on one side of the insulated tunnel (17), a moving chain (8) suspended on the sprockets (7) being driven by a pulley drive (9); a plurality of tie-rods (18) supported by rails (14) rigidly fixed on the moving chains (8); a nitrogen dewar (3) containing pressurized liquid nitrogen disposed at one end of said insulated tunnel (17); a liquid nitrogen tank (1) provided at the closed end of the insulated tunnel (17) receiving pressurized liquid nitrogen continuously from said nitrogen dewar (3) via a transfer line to maintain a desired level of liquid nitrogen therein; and a plurality of trays (6) having hooking means suspendedly interposed on said tie-rods (18), each tray (6) accommodating unfrozen food articles rotatably axially traveling over said conveyor assembly (7,8,9) such that said trays (6) individually sequentially being cooled by gaseous nitrogen and thereafter being dipped into said liquid nitrogen tank(l) for complete freezing of the food article before the trays (6) are returned to seat back on said rails (14), Characterized in that said conveyor assembly (7,8,9) is operably connected to a variable voltage variable frequency drive (12, 13) through a belt-pulley drive to maintain a predetermined travel-speed of said trays (6) in registration with a desired cooling and dipping time of the food articles in said nitrogen tank (1) to achieve an appropriate preservation parameters.
9.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said liquid nitrogen tank (1) is
provided with a regulating valve (10) at the bottom.
3. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said nitrogen dewar (3) is pressurized by compressed air from an air compressor (4) connected to said nitrogen dewar.
4. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said variable speed drive assembly comprises a motor (12) and a reduction gear unit (13).
5. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said tie-rods are Teflon coated.
6. A device as claimed in claim l, wherein said rails (14) are coated with Teflon.
7. A device as claimed in claim 6, wherein said rails (14) are provided with supports (15).
8. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said insulated tunnel (17) is provided with support column (11) and joints (20).
9. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said liquid nitrogen tank (1) is provided with a level indicator (5).
10. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said liquid nitrogen tank (1) is
provided with a float valve (2) and connected to said transfer line.
11 .A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said trays (6) are coated with Teflon and are perforated.
10.

12. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the insulated tunnel (17) and the variable voltage frequency drive (12,13) are mounted on wheels (13).
11
13. A device for cryogenically individually quick freezing of products such as fish, marine products, meat, fruits and vegetables as described hereinabove and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
A mobile device for cryogenically individually quick freezing (IQF) of products such as fish, marine products, meat, fruits and vegetables, the device comprising an insulated tunnel (17) having a conveyor assembly (7, 8, 9) mounted on one side of the insulated tunnel (17), a moving chain (8) being driven by a pulley drive (9); a plurality of tie-rods (18) supported by rails (14) rigidly fixed on the moving chains (8); a nitrogen dewar (3) disposed at one end of said insulated tunnel (17); a liquid nitrogen tank (1) provided at the end of the insulated tunnel (17) receiving pressurized liquid nitrogen from said nitrogen dewar (3); and a plurality of trays (6) having hooking means suspendedly interposed on said tie-rods (18), each tray (6) accommodating unfrozen food articles is rotatably axially traveling over said conveyor assembly (7,8,9) such that said trays (6) being dipped into said liquid nitrogen tank (1) for complete freezing of the food article. The conveyor assembly (7,8,9) is connected to a variable voltage variable frequency drive (12, 13) through a belt-pulley drive to maintain a predetermined travel-speed of said trays (6).

Documents:

02229-cal-1998-abstract.pdf

02229-cal-1998-claims.pdf

02229-cal-1998-correspondence-1.1.pdf

02229-cal-1998-correspondence.pdf

02229-cal-1998-description(complete).pdf

02229-cal-1998-drawings.pdf

02229-cal-1998-form-1.pdf

02229-cal-1998-form-2.pdf

02229-cal-1998-form-3.pdf

02229-cal-1998-g.p.a-1.pdf

02229-cal-1998-g.p.a-2.pdf

2229-CAL-1998-FORM 27.pdf

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Patent Number

193658

Indian Patent Application Number

2229/CAL/1998

PG Journal Number

30/2009

Publication Date

24-Jul-2009

Grant Date

11-Feb-2005

Date of Filing

31-Dec-1998

Name of Patentee

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Applicant Address

KHARAGPUR

Inventors:

#	Inventor's Name	Inventor's Address
1	DR. TRIDIB KUMAR GOSWAMI	C/O INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, DEPTT. OF AGRICULTURAL & FOOD ENGG. KHARAGPUR - 721302

PCT International Classification Number

F25D 13/10

PCT International Application Number

N/A

PCT International Filing date

PCT Conventions:

#	PCT Application Number	Date of Convention	Priority Country
1			NA