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EP0657016B1 - Method and arrangement for keeping a magazine of ice cubes and liquid in a loose and lump-free condition - Google Patents

Method and arrangement for keeping a magazine of ice cubes and liquid in a loose and lump-free condition Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0657016B1
EP0657016B1 EP93919707A EP93919707A EP0657016B1 EP 0657016 B1 EP0657016 B1 EP 0657016B1 EP 93919707 A EP93919707 A EP 93919707A EP 93919707 A EP93919707 A EP 93919707A EP 0657016 B1 EP0657016 B1 EP 0657016B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
magazine
water
pipe
ice
air
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP93919707A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0657016A1 (en
Inventor
Asbjorn Ronneberg
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
MMC AS
Original Assignee
MMC AS RONNEBERG ASBJORN
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by MMC AS RONNEBERG ASBJORN filed Critical MMC AS RONNEBERG ASBJORN
Publication of EP0657016A1 publication Critical patent/EP0657016A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0657016B1 publication Critical patent/EP0657016B1/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
    • F25C—PRODUCING, WORKING OR HANDLING ICE
    • F25C5/00—Working or handling ice
    • F25C5/18—Storing ice
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
    • F25C—PRODUCING, WORKING OR HANDLING ICE
    • F25C5/00—Working or handling ice
    • F25C5/20—Distributing ice

Definitions

  • the present invention concerns a procedure and an arrangement for storing a mixture of ice cubes and water in a magazine, and, when needed, collecting and transporting ice cubes to an area of use, especially for vessels such as fishing vessels.
  • the main purpose of the present invention is to keep the ice cubes in a loose and lump-free condition.
  • the invention also concerns the abovementioned arrangement integrated in an application designed to collect and transport the ice cubes to the processing area.
  • the present invention is especially concerned with plants for producing and storing ice for industrial purposes.
  • fisheries such as ocean fisheries, where a catch consisting of fish, shellfish, etc., must be refrigerated by ice in order to preserve its quality.
  • the ice itself with which this invention is intended to be used in relation to, can either be brought along from ashore in a separate magazine on board, or the vessel can have its own ice machine installed, which produces the necessary ice from seawater.
  • the present invention shall in the ensuing be described in connection with the mentioned sea water ice machine, but shall not limit itself to this.
  • RSW-system Refrigerated Sea Water
  • seawater is chilled in a separate unit, and when the catch is taken onboard from e.g. trawl or seine, the chilled seawater is added so that the fish is kept refrigerated.
  • This system has one disadvantage; when the fish dies, its osmotic qualities cease, i.e. the quality that separates the salt from the water when the fish is alive. This quality causes the meat in seawater fish to taste basically unsalted, but when the osmosis ceases the salt will penetrate the fishmeat and make it taste salt. This will in turn result in a deteriorated quality of the fish.
  • Ice may be manufactured from fresh water in conventional ice machines located on board the vessel. This, however, means that the fresh water must be brought from ashore, and also that the vessel must be equipped with a storage tank with a grab device for collecting the ice, as well as an ice screw for transporting the ice to the processing area on board. Another disadvantage is that it is impossible to chill fresh water to the same degree as seawater.
  • salt water ice machines are less effective, as the ocean water often has a temperature of up to 10 °C, and a lot of the coldness from the refrigeration device in the ice machine is needed to reduce the seawater temperature down to 0 °C before the actual refrigeration process can start. It is also hard to avoid the storing problems in the ice bins, as mentioned above, concerning the clogging and the difficulties in obtaining an adequate dosing of finely portioned ice particles for the fish raw material.
  • the US-patent No. 4.901.539 discloses a machine for producing cold water for drinks.
  • the produced ice cubes float to the top of a water bath and are, mixed with water, pumped through a line and recirculated for cooling the admixed water.
  • the object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus with which a mixture of ice cubes and water may be kept in a loose and lump free condition.
  • a purpose of the present invention is to introduce a procedure and an arrangement which will totally eliminate the beforementioned problems with ice clogging in the magazine on board fishing vessels.
  • a further purpose of this invention is to design the arrangement in such a way that it can be incorporated in an already existing fish handling application, which in this case also may be used for collecting ice cubes and transport them to a processing area.
  • the procedure for storing a mixture of ice cubes and water in a magazine, and, when needed, collecting and transporting ice cubes to an area of use, especially for use on vessels such as fishing vessels is characterized in bringing the ice cubes and water into strong movement by injecting a fluid like air or water with a high pressure pulse into the magazine with time intervals, so that the ice cubes are kept in a loose and lumpfree condition.
  • the mixing influence achieved by injecting a fluid into the magazine is intended to create fluid bubbles which will affect the mixing motion.
  • the fluid is preferentially injected in pulses with regular time intervals of approximately 1-3 hours, the optimal time interval being 3 hours.
  • the fluid is injected in a horizontal direction and/or in a vertical direction from the bottom of the magazine.
  • the fluid will be injected through a pipe applied in the bottom area of the magazine, and into the magazine, through a number of outlet nozzles in the pipe.
  • the fluid is injected into the magazine through a number of branch pipes which are spread over the magazine bottom area, in that each branch pipe contains a number of outlet nozzles for the fluid. Three such branch pipes can be applied.
  • the liquid is sea water and the fluid is air.
  • the salt content can be approximately 3%.
  • the arrangement for effecting the foregoing method comprising a magazine of ice cubes and water, means for delivering fluid to said magazine, and means for collecting ice cubes from said magazine, is characterized by
  • the injection pipe comprises a number of separate branch pipes, which from a branching point are distributed over the bottom area of the magazine, and each branch pipe comprises a number of out nozzles for injecting pipe pressure air.
  • the arrangement according to the invention as described before is integrated with an arrangement comprising a rising pipe including an intermediate storage tank, and where the intermediate storage tank by means of a pressure transmitter in consecutive order:
  • the term 'area of use' means that the ice/water mixture is transported to a dosing machine of a fairly well-known type, where the ice cubes, after being separated from the sea water, will be evenly dosed in suitable amounts together with the fish that is being removed from the trawl or seine.
  • the arrangement is characterized by means for controlling the fluid injecting process and the suction process in such a way that the ensuing stages are carried out consecutively:
  • Fig. 1 shows a sectional drawing of a plant for producing ice on board a vessel.
  • Fig. 2 shows another section of the same plant and illustrates a combined arrangement, which produces the mixing influence for the ice/saltwater mixture, and at the same time extracts ice/saltwater to the processing area.
  • Fig. 3 and 4 show a schematic outlines of different designs for arranging a fluid injection pipe with three branch pipes in a magazine.
  • Fig. 1 shows an ice plant, as on board a vessel with a deck D and an engine room M where a refrigeration device 8 is located, a hold 3 which functions as an ice magazine, and a hold L for the fish.
  • the bottom of the vessel is marked B, and is also described as a tank top 21.
  • the holds are separated by isolated partition walls V.
  • An ice machine 1 is positioned on the deck, for instance an ice machine which produces tube ice or plate ice, and it delivers the ice in free fall down into the magazine 3,4.
  • the refrigerator 8 produces chilled sea water which, by means of the pump 11, is pumped up from the seawater source 22 below the vessel. The water is carried through the refrigerator 8 to the magazine 3,4, which consists of a mixture of ice cubes (from the ice machine 1) and salt water. During standstill the ice 3 floats up due to lower specific weight, and forms a layer on the surface of the salt water 4, like the figure shows.
  • the magazine tank To convey the ice 3 through to the processing area, e.g. for the purpose of refrigerating fish in another hold on the vessel, the magazine tank has been equipped with a conveyor/rising pipe 42/15.
  • the conveyor system for ice is additionally designed as described in connection with figure 2.
  • Each of the holds A, B, C of the vessel have a countersunk well 16 in the bottom B for the purpose of complete drainage of residue water from the holds. Drainage water is sucked out of the well 16 through a pipe 59. Also downwards into the bottom of the ice magazine tank, a pipe 59 is arranged.
  • Figure 1 shows that the ice 3 and the salt water 4 are phase separated into two main layers, but it will be evident from the following description that when ice is taken out from the magazine 3,4, the magazine is first subjected by the mixing influence a loose and lump free mixture of ice cubes and water, so that a mixture of ice 3 and salty water 4 can be pumped up to the deck D.
  • a possible water outlet is guided through a pipe 10 into the refrigerator 8, for instance, in the case of heat exchanging, to be used for precooling of the sea water which is pumped in from the source 22.
  • This outlet water is discharged through a pipe 12 with valve back to the sea.
  • a grate is arranged in front of the outlet pipe.
  • the plant further consists of a set of temperature sensors 13 in the tank, which record the temperature in the different horizontal layers of the magazine 3,4.
  • the level in the magazine 3,4 can be further controlled by adjusting the pumps 11 (sea water in) and 12 (salt water out). Furthermore it is now possible to make very effective use of the capacity of the ice machine, since use is made of sea water, which has been precooled to approximately 0 °C in the RSW-unit, is fed directly into the ice machine. This makes it possible to increase the ice production by almost 20%.
  • figure 2 is shown in detail, according to the invention, the specific system which produces the mixing influence in the magazine with the mixture of ice cubes and water, as well as, according to the invention, a system for transporting a mixture of ice cubes and water to a processing area.
  • Figure 2 shows the ice machine 2 which delivers ice to hold A as described previously. On each side of this hold, hold sections B and C have been arranged, for storing fish refrigerated by ice from hold A.
  • a mixture of ice 3 and salt water 4 is sucked through the pipe 15 and into an intermediate storage tank 30 and squeezed or pressed further through the pipe 27 to a feeding tank 33 for ice, with the help of the pressure transmitting from a compressor or pump 29.
  • the intermediate storage tank 30 is moreover arranged in a tilted position, so that its outlet side is positioned at a lower level than its inlet side, in the vertical direction.
  • the salt water runs off the ice and is carried through the pipe 26 back to the magazine 3,4.
  • the ice is conveyed further by a transport screw 24, (or possibly a conveyor belt) up to a dosing unit 18 for delivery to a dosing plate 23, while the fish intended for refrigeration is transported from the feeding unit 17 from a seine or a trawl. From the dosing plate 23 the fish/ice mixture is guided into distribution ducts 20 for transport to the relevant holds.
  • a pipe 35 which is connected between the pump/pressure transmitter 29 and the pipe 15, contains in succession:
  • a pipe 40 leads down to the bottom of the magazine, and leads further by a more or less horizontal section 44 into the magazine 3,4.
  • the horizontal section is designed with a number of outlet nozzles 45 from where the fluid is injected into the magazine 3,4.
  • a pipe 62 connects to the pipe 15 at a given distance from the floor of the magazine. Upstream of the inlet of the pipe 15, the pipe 62 contains a manifoil 39 and a back pressure valve 43.
  • the valve 34 has been designed in such a way that when the pump 29 with strong pressure blows fluid through the pipe 36, this will entail a simultaneous strong suctioning vacuum in the pipe 35.
  • Fig. 3 shows a horizontal section of a preferred arrangement of the injection arrangement.
  • the pipe 40 branches out into three branch pipes 46, 47, 48 which are distributed so that they cover a large area of the floor of the magazine.
  • the branch pipes comprise the valves 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, and these can be controlled during injection so that the fluid is injected alternately from the nozzles 45 in the three branch pipes.
  • Fig. 4 shows an alternative design of the positioning of the branch pipes in the bottom of the magazine. It follows that from the connection point 70 three branch pipes 72, 74, 76, each with an outlet nozzle on the end, branch out over the floor of the magazine. The pipe 74 is positioned furthest off inwards in the magazine seen from the branching point 70, while the pipe 72 is positioned nearest. This positioning is suitable when the bottom of the magazine has a rectangular floor area, as shown in the figure. The control of the alternate injection through the three pipes is achieved in the same way as described in fig. 3.
  • the rising pipe 15 comprises a suction pipe in the form of a flexible hose 42 which from a distance over the floor level of the magazine 3,4, extends more or less horizontally inwards into the magazine 3,4.
  • the hose 42 at the inlet 57 to the magazine 3,4, forms a hinge connection, in the shape of a flange, so that the hose can be tipped upwards and downwards round a horizontal axis.
  • the hose 42 further comprises a float gadget 58 to enable it to float in the water in the border area between the ice layer 3 and the water 4.
  • the hose 42 always floats in a position close to the ceiling of the ice substance (seen from below), and the height position of the hose will always vary upwards and downwards (see arrows on fig. 2) in pace with the changing height level of the boarder area, depending on the volume of the magazine.
  • suctioning ice/liquid through the opening 64 of the hose 42 one is ensured to obtain a suitable mixture of water and ice.
  • the mixture will in this boarder area be adequately suction- and pump-able.
  • Any residue water in the tank may be emptied by connecting the pipe 59 to the rising pipe 15 within a suction step.
  • the valves 34, 28 and 41 are adjusted so that the fluid is carried through the pipes 35, 37, 40 and 44 up until and into the magazine 3,4, through the injection nozzles 45.
  • the injection may also be arranged through the pipe 15, by adjusting the valve 41 to injection through the pipe 62, further into the pipe 15 and into the magazine 3,4 through the suction opening 64 on this pipe 62. Injection through the pipes 62 and 15 may also be relevant when the unit is used for pumping fish, in order to blow out fish which might be stuck in the pipe 15 during the suction process.
  • water for example sea water from the magazine 3,4
  • water may be injected into the magazine instead of air. This may for example be effected by suction of a volume of water 4 from the magazine and into the pipe 42, 15 and thereafter reinjecting it back into the magazine with a powerful over-pressure.
  • the valves 34, 28, 41 readjust, so that a strong vacuum builds up in the pipes 35, 38, 15, which will discharge the ice/water mixture in through the opening 64 to the horizontally positioned hose 42 and further up through the pipe 15 and into the tank 30.
  • the pipe 62 is shut down by means of the reversing valve 43, to stop ice and water from penetrating into the fluid injection pipes 37 and 62.
  • the valve 41 will close to prevent suction effect in the injection pipe 40.
  • valves 34 and 28 When the tank 30 is filled with a mixture of ice cubes and water, the valves 34 and 28 will readjust so that the full fluid pressure from the pump 29 is guided into the back side of the ice/water in the tank 30, i.e. through the pipe 38 to the inlet side of the tank, and in consequence the said ice/water content is squeezed out of the tank 30 and into the rising pipe 27 all the way to the feeding tank 33 where the water runs off the ice and is carried through the pipe 26 back to the magazine.
  • One pipe 15 (of the pipes 40, 15) which can carry pressure fluid to the magazine 3,4 constitutes, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the same pipe that the ice/liquid mixture is suctioned into from the magazine 3,4 to be carried to the processing area, something that is achieved by readjusting of the said valves.
  • this cycle will be carried out with injection of fluid (air) at suitable time intervals, while the suction of the ice/water mixture may take place any chosen number of times after each injection. Normally it will be enough to inject fluid every 3 hours.
  • the injection system 29, 35, 15 according to the invention can also be used separately for the sole purpose of keeping an ice/water substance 3,4 in a loose mixture.
  • the extent of the injection will of course be adjusted in accordance with the size of the magazine.
  • Figure 2 further indicates that the pipe 15 includes a branch pipe 59 (with a two-way shut-off valve 60 in the branching point) to the bottom of the storage tank C.
  • the system according to the invention thus may be used for emptying other tanks on the vessel, e.g. of fish, and that it might give a choice of possibilities regarding which hold the ice magazine at best should be stored in.
  • the arrangement according to the invention was assembled and tested in a fishing vessel.
  • the injection test showed that the positioning of the horizontal pipe 42 had a decisive effect on the amount of ice that was suctioned.
  • the pressure in the vacuum tank which was approximately 2000 litres, was reduced to approximately 40% vacuum by means of which the ice/sea water mixture was suctioned up.
  • the tank 30 was approximately full, pressure was introduced at the inlet side of the tank, and the ice/sea water mixture was pressed up to the deck. While the complete suction/pumping cycles lasted for about 40 seconds, the process of pressing the mixture up to the deck lasted for only 13 seconds.
  • the ice cube substance was weighed at approximately 850 kg ice cubes. Since the tank was almost full, this meant that an ice/sea water mixture with an ice-share of approximately 50% had been suctioned up from the magazine.
  • the capacity for ice delivery will be approximately 1275 kg ice per minute, equivalent to 76,5 ton per hour.
  • the capacity according to this will be more than adequate for fishing vessels and also for other areas of utilization.
  • an ice delivery plant that is compact and which can also be installed on smaller fishing vessels.
  • the plant keeps the ice in a loose and easily dosable mixture with water that is strained away before use, resulting in a product of fresh water ice of a more than adequate quality for keeping the load of fish refrigerated on board the vessel.
  • the procedure starts with filling the storage tanks with 8 volume% sea water and 8 volume% ice, after which the fish-catch is added, mixed with 8-10% ice cubes.
  • This will result in a more economical and effective refrigeration of fish than with earlier R.S.W-systems. Additionally this will produce an ice/water/fish mixture which is very easy to pump for the plant, according to the invention.
  • the plant according to the invention is very well suited for use on board vessels as well as for use in ashore based units.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Thermal Sciences (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
EP93919707A 1992-08-13 1993-07-29 Method and arrangement for keeping a magazine of ice cubes and liquid in a loose and lump-free condition Expired - Lifetime EP0657016B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
NO923173A NO923173L (no) 1992-08-13 1992-08-13 Anordning ved isfremstilling
NO923173 1992-08-13
PCT/NO1993/000121 WO1994004879A1 (en) 1992-08-13 1993-07-29 Method and arrangement for keeping a magazine of ice cubes and liquid in a loose and lump-free condition

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0657016A1 EP0657016A1 (en) 1995-06-14
EP0657016B1 true EP0657016B1 (en) 1997-03-19

Family

ID=19895369

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP93919707A Expired - Lifetime EP0657016B1 (en) 1992-08-13 1993-07-29 Method and arrangement for keeping a magazine of ice cubes and liquid in a loose and lump-free condition

Country Status (6)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0657016B1 (no)
AU (1) AU4985393A (no)
CA (1) CA2142311A1 (no)
DK (1) DK0657016T3 (no)
NO (1) NO923173L (no)
WO (1) WO1994004879A1 (no)

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO1992017243A2 (en) * 1991-04-05 1992-10-15 Indigo Medical, Incorporated Apparatus using a laser lucent needle
NO320987B1 (no) * 2003-04-14 2006-02-20 Utstyr & Kjoleservice As Fremgangsmåte og system til temperering,særlig avkjøling, av produktenheter, samt anvendelse derav
CA2562722C (en) 2006-09-12 2015-11-24 Sunwell Engineering Company Limited Method and apparatus for cooling product

Family Cites Families (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3004407A (en) * 1960-04-19 1961-10-17 Morris And Associates Inc Continuous poultry chiller apparatus and method
US3447338A (en) * 1965-01-15 1969-06-03 Hupp Corp Apparatus for cooling particulate solids
US4788830A (en) * 1987-03-13 1988-12-06 Schreiner R Alan Apparatus for bulk ice making and dispensing
CN1018671B (zh) * 1987-07-17 1992-10-14 森威尔工程有限公司 冰的贮藏和分配装置及方法
AU2074088A (en) * 1987-07-20 1989-02-13 Orange, John Robert Scoley Method and apparatus for cooling fish on board a ship
US4881378A (en) * 1988-05-13 1989-11-21 Bryant Jimmy L High speed icemaker
GB2225845B (en) * 1988-11-24 1992-09-16 Thermal Engineering Systems Li Ice bank coolers
US4901539A (en) * 1989-01-30 1990-02-20 Garber Howard A Ice making and dispensing machine

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
WO1994004879A1 (en) 1994-03-03
DK0657016T3 (da) 1997-10-06
NO923173D0 (no) 1992-08-13
CA2142311A1 (en) 1994-03-03
NO923173L (no) 1994-02-14
EP0657016A1 (en) 1995-06-14
AU4985393A (en) 1994-03-15

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