EP0804333A1

EP0804333A1 - Drainer press with multiple chambers and angularly offset pressing axes

Info

Publication number: EP0804333A1
Application number: EP96939160A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Didier Lacoste; Patrick Delon
Original assignee: Quercy Vinicole
Current assignee: Quercy Vinicole
Priority date: 1995-11-20
Filing date: 1996-11-20
Publication date: 1997-11-05
Also published as: FR2741293A1; WO1997018943A1; FR2741293B1; AU7630496A

Abstract

A drainer press including a body optionally provided with a drainage chamber, and at least two pressing chambers each provided with a grating and pressing means with angularly offset pushing directions. The body further comprises longitudinal pressing means movable along a horizontal axis through each of said chambers perpendicularly to the pressing directions of each chamber, as well as feed means, particularly a feed hopper, and a fixed juice collecting tray. The volumes of the pressing chambers decrease from the upstream pressing chamber to the downstream pressing chamber.

Description

MULTI-CHAMBER AND PRESS DRAINER WITH ANGULARLY SHIFTED PRESSING AXES

The subject of the present invention is a horizontal pressing press comprising several successive adjacent chambers arranged along the horizontal thrust axis and provided with thrust pressing means perpendicular to said horizontal axis with alternating angular offset from one chamber to the other. .

French patent application No. 2,649,358 discloses a multi-tray rack and press rack, with alternating thrust direction, in particular for grapes.

This drainer-press includes a frame on which the body of the drainer-press is fixed, in a horizontal position. This body includes several chambers juxtaposed along the horizontal longitudinal axis, with a common pressing tunnel, square in shape and for practical reasons, oriented with one of the vertical diagonals.

In this tunnel, there is provided a pressing plate movable from upstream of the first chamber downstream of the last chamber, moved by suitable linear drive means, in this case, a set of four cylinders of the screw-nut type, the nuts, integral with pinions being driven in rotation by the same crown and the same geared motor. The end of the tunnel is closed by a door for the purpose of forming a plug as will be explained later.

Each chamber is identical to the following and provided with its own pressing means comprising a pressing plate moved by suitable linear drive means, in this case also a set of cylinders of the screw-nut type, the nuts, integral gears being driven in rotation by the same crown and the same gear motor.

The most important feature of this press-drainer is that the directions of the thrust axes are angularly offset from one chamber to another, in the case described, the offset is 90 °, or 45 ° on either side of the vertical.

At the upper part of the body of the press-drainer, there is arranged a supply of grapes by a large diameter pipe or a hopper capable of receiving the contents of the skips, for example.

At the lower part of the body of the press-drainer, there is provided a container for collecting the expressed liquids, this container being compartmentalized to collect the juices from each of the chambers, the qualities of these juices being different. If such a press-drainer gives any satisfaction in its design and leads to the hoped-for results, there remain some shortcomings in its practical implementation, which the present invention proposes to overcome.

Indeed, the first problem is the constancy of the volume of the rooms. In fact, the harvest is pressed from one room to another with a re-generation generated by the crossed pressing directions but for industrial reasons, the pressing means are identical and have a constant power, which, combined with the surface identical pressing results in an identical applied pressure on the harvest from one room to another. In order to increase the pressure from one chamber to another, it is possible to oversize the pressing means of the chambers by limiting them in their operation for the first chamber, by making them work with a lower limitation for the second and by making them work at nominal for the last, in the case of a three-chamber press for example.

This is not rational, especially since the volume of the harvest decreases as it progresses from one room to another.

Another problem is to form the starting plug, at the outlet of the press-drainer to create the back pressure necessary for pressing while ensuring the evacuation of the resulting grounds.

One solution is to leave the door at the downstream end of the tunnel closed during the first pressing, then open it when the time comes. This is not easy either because too long a wait can lead to the system being blocked without taking into account the difficulty of opening the door unless having additional assistance means such as jacks, which complicates the device that we want simple and reliable.

It may be advantageous to control the succession of pressing sequences by means of an industrial computer but if the phases of the pressing cycle can be easily determined, it is quite different with the tops of passage from one phase to another, except to do manual learning for each type of harvest, with the first loads, but we know that red grapes with little sweetness behave very different from sweet sweet white grapes. Another constraint arises as soon as such a press-drainer is mounted on a mobile vehicle such as a trailer with a view to renting the pressing service to harvesting wine-growers. Indeed, in this case, it is necessary to load the harvest by a pipe connected to a pump, which tends to create a bursting of the grains and increases the quantity of drop juice. Another solution is to have a loader with significant lifting capacities at significant heights because as soon as the capacity of the press increases, the dimensions also increase rapidly, in particular the height above the ground.

The present invention provides an improved press-drainer which overcomes the drawbacks mentioned above. To this end, the press-drainer according to the invention comprises a body, optionally comprising a draining chamber, at least two pressing chambers, each equipped with racks and pressing means whose thrust directions are angularly offset, said body further comprising longitudinal pressing means, along a horizontal axis, capable of moving through each of said chambers, perpendicular to the pressing directions of each of the chambers, as well as supply means, in particular a feed hopper, and a fixed juice recovery tank with compartments arranged in line with each of the chambers, and is characterized in that the volumes of the pressing chambers are in decreasing volumes from the upstream pressing chamber to the downstream pressing chamber.

According to another characteristic, the section of the pressing chambers is constant. According to a particular embodiment, the pressing means of the downstream chamber comprise a pressing plate angularly tiltable from upstream to downstream, the plate upstream being higher than downstream.

More specifically, the angle of inclination is variable depending on its height in the chamber. liquid flow sensors are furthermore provided under the pressing chambers so as to detect the absence of flow.

These sensors are connected to a programmable controller in order to generate operational tops. According to an improvement of the drainer-press of the invention, there is provided means for loading the hopper in the form of a bucket with an elevator capable of moving from the self to the hopper.

More particularly, this bucket is equipped with pressing means such as a removable inflatable envelope disposed on the open face of said bucket when the latter is filled.

The present invention is now described according to a particular embodiment, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which the following figures represent: FIG. 1, a perspective view of a press-drainer of the type of the invention,

FIG. 2, a perspective view of an isolated downstream end module, with a closing door and an inclined plate,

- Figures 3A to 3F, a schematic view of a block diagram of a press-drainer with a pressing plate inclined in the downstream chamber,

FIG. 4, a simplified view of the press-drainer according to the invention with chambers with decreasing volumes,

- Figures 5A to 5F, a schematic view of a block diagram of a press-drainer with rooms with decreasing volumes. In Figure 1, there is shown the assembly of a press-drainer 1 0 comprising a body 1 2 to axis 1 3 horizontal, with a drip chamber 1 4, and three pressing chambers 1 6, 1 8 and 20, respectively considered from upstream to downstream. The different rooms are equipped with multiple screens allowing the passage of juice while retaining the marc.

This body is of square section, oriented so as to have one of the diagonals along the vertical. The body 12 comprises means for supplying the harvest 22, in the example shown, a hopper 24, opening into the drip chamber 14.

The body 1 2 is carried by a frame 26 which can be rolling but which, for the simplification of the drawing, is shown as being fixed.

Under the body 12, a fixed tank 28 is installed, with independent compartments 30, 32, 34 and 36 provided for collecting the juices separately, in line with each of the chambers and provided with evacuation means, The body is closed to its exit through a door 38, comprising two half-doors.

In the embodiment shown, which conforms to that of the prior art, the chambers all have the same volume and each include pressing means 40, 42 and 44. The directions of the pressing axis are angularly offset by 45 ° with respect to the vertical, on both sides, alternately so as to cause an angular offset of 90 ° from one room to another.

These pressing means 40, 42 and 44 comprise, in the selected embodiment, four screw-nut assemblies, the nuts of which are driven in synchronous rotation by the same gear motor and by idler gears.

Sectional guillotines 46,48; 50.52; 54.56 are arranged in pairs upstream and downstream of each of the chambers.

The assembly is completed by pressing means 58, in the longitudinal direction, comprising a pressing plate capable of moving under the action of four screw-nut assemblies, the nuts of which are driven in synchronous rotation by the same geared motor and by idler gears.

The tray can move from one room to another, as needed, depending on its stroke and depending on the opening of the guillotines. The operation of such a drainer is now described.

The harvest is brought into the hopper, fitted in a known manner with a guillotine shutter and a charge is brought into the drip chamber in which the drop juice is collected which is released by the grains as soon as they burst under the effects of the load's own weight but also under the effect of pressing under very low pressure to ensure the bursting of the majority of the grains and the release of almost all of the drop juice, which is recovered in the first part 30 of the tray. Then, the load is transferred to the first chamber by opening the guillotine 46, 48 while leaving the guillotine 50 closed.

The load is then subjected to a double pressing along the direction of the longitudinal axis and perpendicular thereto which causes a blocking in addition to pressing. The juice expressed in very large quantity, said to be of first pressing, is collected in the second part 32 of the tank.

The pressing means of the chamber are reassembled, the longitudinal pressing means are released and the downstream guillotine 50, 52 of the first chamber is raised to allow the passage of the load first pressed in the second pressing chamber 1 8. This is continued by collecting the various juices progressively up to the third chamber 20, in which the marc almost free of juice accumulates in abutment on the downstream guillotine 56 or on the door 38.

This is continued with successive charges until a plug accumulates and locks at the outlet of the body with sufficient force to achieve a back pressure effected by the support of the pressure plate of the chamber 20.

FIG. 2 shows more precisely a chamber, the downstream chamber 20 with the door 38, as well as the pressing means 44 comprising a plate 60, a geared motor 62, distribution gears 64, 66, 68 and 70, rotating the nuts 72, 74, 76 and 78 of the screw-nut assemblies 80, 82, 84 and 86. The screws 88, 90, 92 and 94 are articulated relative to the plate by known assemblies of the yoke type with axis, allowing an inclination of the plate 60, which is a first characteristic of the press-drainer according to the invention.

On the block diagram of FIGS. 3A to 3F, it is possible to follow the operation and therefore deduce the advantage of such an inclined plate with variable inclination.

At the stage of FIG. 3A, the harvest was drained and pressed in the upstream chambers and in particular in the penultimate chamber 18.

The first load A has been transferred to the last chamber 20 in which it is pressed by the plate according to the invention and then stored in this last chamber.

A new load B is pressed into the chamber 1 8 according to the movements indicated by the arrows 1 and 3 and the pressing means specific to the chamber are reassembled according to 2. In step 3B, the load B is transferred according to arrow 4 by means of longitudinal pressing

58, in the downstream chamber 20.

In step 3C, the pressing means specific to this downstream chamber are activated to ensure the last pressing. A first plug is formed, consisting of charges A + B. In step 3D, a new load C completes the first and the door 38 can be opened in 3E because the plug is made and the material remains compact and does not leak .

In step 3F, the charge C is transferred to the chamber 20 by driving out part A of the plug. The cycle begins again in FIG. 3C, the doors 38 remaining open.

This possibility, offered by this improvement, is particularly appreciated for example for sweet wines whose marcs tend to "slip" without ever constituting a stopper.

Of course, it can be interesting to make the stopper with the door open from the start, which is possible with grapes leaving more compact grounds. Precisely, given the diversity of reaction of the different grapes, it may be useful to provide means for adjusting the inclination.

Thus, one can provide two independent geared motors driving one, ia pair of upstream screw-nut assemblies and the other, the pair of downstream screw-nut assemblies, such modifications remaining within the reach of man of the 'art.

In Figure 4, there is shown a press-drainer 1 10 according to the invention, which also includes a drip chamber 1 1 4 and three pressing chambers 1 1 6, 1 1 8 and 1 20 but with a characteristic essential that the volume of the chambers decreases from upstream to downstream. Thus, for the same section, the width of the chamber varies from L1 to L3 with L1> L2> L3.

For practical reasons to facilitate comparison, the identical parts have been indicated with identical numbers but increased by 1 00.

Thus in FIG. 4, there is shown diagrammatically each of the chambers with identical pressing means or at least equivalent to those of the press-drainer described from FIG. 1.

On the other hand, the operation is even better than for the press-drainers with chambers at constant volume, as indicated below with reference to the block diagram of FIGS. 5A to 5F. The charge of FIG. 5A represents the initial charge introduced into the first pressing chamber 1 1 6.

The geometry of this load is a parallelepiped of square section a and of third dimension L1 corresponding to the length of the first pressing chamber 1 1 6, upstream. When the load is pressed, the dimension a. along the direction of the pressing axis decreases to a value H 1, the two other dimensions coming from construction remaining identical. The volume is established at V1 = a x H 1 x g,

The load is then transferred by the longitudinal pressing means 1 58 from the first chamber 1 1 6 into the second pressing chamber 1 1 8, of length L2 <L1. Pressing in a perpendicular direction causes the load to decompact, which takes up the volume of this second chamber, thus causing a large blocking. This volume is axax L2.

The load thus configured is again pressed in a direction perpendicular to the first, the dimension a following this new direction becoming H2 with H2 <a and generally H2 <H 1. In any event, the volume V2 = a x H2 x L2 <V1.

This charge is transferred to the chamber 1 1 8 and undergoes a powerful drafting as well as a decompaction allowing the migration of the trapped juices towards the outside. The volume that the load takes is that of the third chamber 120, namely a x a xL3.

This load is again compressed with an even greater pressure since the same force is exerted on a smaller surface, which causes the release of the last juices, thus increasing the yield.

The load then takes the volume V3 = a x L3 x H3 <V2 <V1.

In addition the formation of a plug is also facilitated by this decreasing volume because the outlet section can be large if one plays on the dimensions and the variable inclination pressing plate described above is even more effective.

Still according to the invention, an additional improvement consists in providing automatic detection of the flow of liquids under each of the drainage and pressing chambers, for example a beam sensor 1 57, such devices being sold commercially. Thus, when the different phases are managed by a programmable controller 1 59, the transition to the next sequence, that is to say the transfer to the next room is given by said sensor.

Although the press-drainer according to the invention is rapid, it may be advantageous to carry out a prior operation in masked time while the press-drainer is working. Furthermore according to the invention, this operation responds to the concern of the loading height of the hopper when the place is not suitable.

To this end, according to the invention, it is recommended to have in addition, a hopper loading bucket with an elevator. This skip is then loaded directly by emptying the harvesting trailers into the skip. Advantageously, the latter is fitted on its open upper face with a light pressing means such as an inflatable envelope which is folded down on said bucket when the latter is full. As soon as the bucket is poured into the hopper, the dripping juice flows quickly through the latter and is collected in the lower part in the tank provided for this purpose.

Claims

REVENDICATIO NS

1. Press-drainer comprising a body (114), possibly including a draining chamber (114), at least two pressing chambers (116,118,120), each equipped with racks and pressing means (140,142,144) including the directions of thrust are angularly offset, said body further comprising longitudinal pressing means (158), along a horizontal axis (113), capable of moving through each of said chambers, perpendicular to the pressing directions of each of the chambers, as well as means feed (122) including a feed hopper (124), and a fixed tank (128) for collecting juices with compartments (130,132,134,136) arranged in line with each of the chambers, characterized in that the volumes of the pressing are in decreasing volumes from the upstream pressing chamber to the downstream pressing chamber.

2. Press-drainer according to claim 1, characterized in that the section of the pressing chambers is constant.

3. Press-drainer according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the pressing means of the downstream chamber (120) comprise a pressing plate (160) tilting angularly from upstream to downstream, the plate to the 'upstream being higher than downstream.

4. Press-drainer according to claim 3, characterized in that the angle of inclination is variable depending on the height of the pressing plate in the chamber.

5. Press-drainer according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises liquid flow sensors arranged under the pressing chambers so as to detect the absence of flow.

6. Press-drainer according to claim 5, characterized in that the sensors are connected to a programmable controller (1 59) in order to generate operating tops.

7. Press-drainer according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises means for loading the hopper in the form of a bucket with an elevator capable of moving from the ground to the hopper.

8. Press-drainer according to claim 7, characterized in that the bucket is equipped with pressing means such as a removable inflatable envelope disposed on the open face of said bucket when the latter is filled.