| WO/2004/019706 | JUICE EXTRACTOR HAVING SOFT START MOTOR CONTROL |
| JPS5752596 | ORANGE FRUIT FUICE SQUEEZER |
| WO/2020/049195 | DEVICE HAVING CAPSULES FOR PRODUCING JUICES |
NATALICCHI ROBERTO (IT)
NATALICCHI ROBERTO (IT)
| US2398440A | 1946-04-16 | |||
| FR2572328A1 | 1986-05-02 | |||
| US5365838A | 1994-11-22 | |||
| US5377584A | 1995-01-03 | |||
| FR792089A | 1935-12-21 | |||
| EP0211706A2 | 1987-02-25 |
| CLAIMS 1. A press for squeezing all usable juice from fleshy fruits, and grapes in particular, is shown in longitudinal section view in Fig.l. The press is based essentially on four parallelepiped-rectangular operative sectors (1-2-3-4) of different length in the direction of the working process but all equal in width so that this size in fact constitutes the width itself of the machine. The length is instead determined by three horizontal operative sectors (1-3-4). These last ones are connected among themselves by connecting spaces where the product is passing during the working phases (10-11-14). Each chamber executes in a differentiated way and in succession the different functions of the squeezing process; all of them are conveniently but differently slitted (5 abed) in accordance with the different working phases and in consideration of the products to press. Proper deflectors guide the liquids into small collecting tanks lodged in appropriate spaces in the frame below (όabede), to effect a fractionated collection of juices with different organoleptic characteristics. The small tanks are also equipped with a tap for taking samples (8abcde) to analyse and, in case, to determine a different setting of the press, also during the functioning. • The manufacturing process begins in the draining section (1) where the juices, arriving from the previous operations already in a liquid state, are separated on a draining conveyer plan (9). • The compression and draining section (2) where the pulps, rich of juice, accumulate and drain themselves thanks to gravity force while waiting for the intermittent opening of the passage (11) at the end of the return path to the hollow box (15). • The squeezing section (3) where the hollow box component (15) for flat compression, on the basis of the chosen program of pressings and moves, performs the entire path closing the entrance of the pulps (11), letting them advance together with the existing ones, squeezing them up to compact them in a panel towards the following section (4) and reopening at the end of its return path the space (11) for the descent of a new dose of product. • The hollow box component for the flat compression (15) and draining (18), with an internally assembled piston (16) activated by an oleohidraulic junction box (17). It slides along the entire section (3) in the two directions from the opening (13) till the exit space (14). On the basis of the programming, adjusted to the kind of product chosen, the hollow box component carries out during the squeezing course, in addition to the reopening and closing of the feeding space (11), different compressions and decompression movements with consequent mild crumbling of the panel, completing with a propelling push for the entrance of the panel in the following section (4). • The pressing section (4) lined up with the previous one and of larger length, receives the product as a semi solid panel through the space (14).This panel, with the belt in two directions alternate motion (25) loosens repeatedly its compactness facilitating the exit of residual juices and recompose itself permanently during the forced transit on the fixed slitted base (26) to be expelled later by the final pressing combined with the motion of the rotating plan (27). • The swinging plan for containment (20) and draining (21) upper part of the forth section, pivoting on the frame (24), during the working process compensates the progressively minor outflows of liquid with gentle bending actions on the husks maintaining them at the predefined level of pressing. Important is the retrieval of the juices from its superior slitted opening (21). The swinging plan is essential for the operation of running at regime the entire production cycle in position (19b). On the external upper side of the containment plan is installed the medium for transmission of pneumatic pressure (22). 2. A press in which its squeezing sector (3), as from claims point 1, receives from the previous compensation sector (2) the product to process through the opening passage (11); the squeezing sector is completely slitted in all its panel walls and enables the hollow box component for the flat compression (15) the maximisation of the extraction of the juices. 3. A press, as from claims point 1, where the hollow box component for the flat compression (15) connected to the alternate action of the piston (16), operated by the oleohidraulic pressure of the junction box (17), besides the dosage of the transit of the product through the opening (11) it runs elastically a series of compressions spaced out by short precessions for the optimal squeezing of the product as to push it through the opening (14), in form of a husk panel. 4. A press, as from claim point 1, in which its pressing section (4), extensively slitted, receives the panel through the opening (14) to complete the spilling of the usable juice and in which a plan rotating in the two directions (25) determines, at alternative periods, loosening and re-compacting actions of the exhausting panel. A second rotating plan (27) eases the expulsion of the dry panel. 5. A press, as from claim point 1, where a swinging plan for containment (20) and draining (21) at pneumatic compression (22) compensates, with its swinging action (24), the minor volume loss of the panel maintaining the pressure existing in the sector (4) for the final egress of the juices. It is essential in position (19b) for the initial formation of the panel. 6. A press that fulfils the objectives of continuity aimed at extracting all juice, selectively fractionated and of the maximum quality; these objectives are achievable thanks to the essential concatenation of operational elements indicated in Fig. 1 (1-2-3-4-15-20-25-27) among themselves strictly connected, where the course of the product takes place with a continuous alternated actions of pressure and their setting at zero, of mild crumbling along the four sections all extensively slitted in the most proper ways in accordance with the fruit treated (5a-b-c-d- 11-21-26). The entire process from the draining to the progressive squeezing of the pulps and the formation of the dry residuals panel is controlled by a program PLC. 7. A version of the press conceived as from claim point 1 for fruit with very compact pulp that introduces a fifth parallelepiped-rectangular operative sector, opportunely slitted (35 -35c), solidly put on the fore frame of the machine, as from description and as shown in Fig. 2, and gone through by a hollow box (36) with pneumatic compression (37) and consequent discharge of dry residuals from the bottom side (39). 8. A second version of the press conceived as from claim point 1 functional for fruits with pulp initially very thick, as described and shown in Fig. 3, that is composed by two hollow boxes (51a-51b) with their respective pistons (52a-52b) connected to the junction box (17) capable of alternate motion among themselves to increase the effectiveness of the squeezing action in the third section of the working process. |
DESCRIPTION
The conceived press, with continuous working process synchronised with the arrival of the product, allows the complete extraction of the juice from the fleshy fruits, grapes in particular, in selective fractions of maximum quality with soft flat compressions applied during a short squeezing process.
Mechanisms with continuous working phase are the Separators, the Draining Sections, the Pressing Sections operating with belts; all of them, they have limited diffusion as they are useful for extracting juices only in a partial way.
Machines that are able to obtain a complete extraction of juices are operating the pressure through one or two endless screws that, rotating, achieve both press and advancement, up to the expulsion of the dry residuals. These machines are the Continuous Press with Screw, no more used since some decades due to the worst quality of main parts of the juices extracted. In the wine sector between the thirties and the eighties a squeezing processing line composed by a Draining sector feeding a Press; both sharing a single screw obtaining from the first, an acceptable juice, but from the second an progressive worsening extraction. Presently, the kind of presses used are the ones known as "horizontal" with non continuous working process of which many kinds are available, with differences in the construction and in the functioning but all characterised by big horizontal cylindrical container in which the product is brought in and mechanical or hydraulically pressed between convergent dishes located at the extremes of the cylinder or pneumatically pressed through a membrane located in the centre or on one side of the cylinder. The juices are coming out from the slit or staved cylinder in a collecting tank. When the pressing of the mass is completed, the exhausted husks are discharged from appropriate hatches turning the cylinder on the evacuation appliances. These non continuous presses have similar disadvantages.
The duration of the entire operation, from the load to the discharge varies, in accordance with the size of the press (volume of the cylinder) from 150 to 300 minutes. The residual solid part cannot be eliminated until the end of the pressing process when all the product initially loaded is completely finished.
The juice selection is partial and only in the loading phase. Afterwards when the loading is completed (up to 500 quintals in the biggest models) the squeezing finds an obstacle in itself and the selection becomes basically impossible; as a matter of facts, the softest elements tend to open themselves first and their juice mixes in the mass with the one coming from the hardest parts; the whole compost combining with solid parts (skins-seeds-films-wooden elements). As the pressing ends with the extraction of all liquid part contained in the whole load, it is necessary to alternate to pressing periods decompressing ones in which letting the container cylinder rotates to remix the mass in which liquid sacs, together with less squeezed and exhausted ones. Not following this process, the periods of time necessary to complete the squeezing would increase grandly. Not only do these inevitable procedures prevent the selection of the resulting juices, but they would also cause oxidation processes and maceration, in any case negative for the quality of the product. Even though, from a qualitative point of view, the resulting juices are considered valid as they are obtained through the use of soft pressure supplied with flat compression means. With an increase of their costs to protect the product from the oxidation, the most developed models are equipped with external coverings to shield the draining cylinder and let the application of processes of inertization through the use of CO2 or inert gases.
The objectives of the conceived press are: continuity in the working processes, respect of the quality of the juices extracted through the use of soft pressure reachable with the flat compression, extraction of all useful product, selective fractioning of the juices.
In presence of the same hourly production capability: occupation of minor spaces, much less structural and charging weights; besides this, savings in the building of the appliances, in their management and in the overall energetic consumption.
The new press achieves all this with a innovative structure that allows a particular working process. Constituted by four parallelepiped-rectangular operative sectors (1-2-3-4) of different volumes not lined to each other but contiguous, these sectors are tightly connected and tied in the open spaces in which the product advances. They are differentiated among themselves to adequate each other to the physical-mechanical exigencies of the fruits treated in order to extract sequentially the juices through percolation, draining, squeezing and pressing. During their course in the machine, the pulps and the husks advances thanks to gravity, push and pull forces in a short path (200- 250 cm) of little duration (10-15 minutes) from the entrance of the product to the expulsion of hard parts panel.
The first two sectors receive doses of liquids released during the first initial phases of the process that descend for gravity into the small containers below. In the following two sectors, the extraction is performed through the application of oleo-hydraulic and pneumatic pressures with flat compression, that ensure the maximum quality of the juices until their last fractions.
The sectors are characterised from the presence, on all their walls, of slits (5a-5b-5c-5d)(fissures, panellists, plates, chains) for the juices to exit to the exterior where proper deflectors guide them into their respective transit collecting tanks (6a-6b-6c-6d), lodged in the frame below and continue (7a-7b-7c-7d) fractioned in this way to the proper factory tanks. At the same time the pulps with the part of the liquid not yet extracted keep on moving on their path, mixed with non pressing parts that will form the dry panel to expel at the end of the process. The tanks, of different capacity, are equipped with a tap (8a-8b-8c-8d) for taking samples useful for the organoleptic and analytical evaluations that let the operator decide on potential further fractioning with substitutable tanks. The conceived press is represented more in details in its working process in the drawings that illustrate the operational elements, with their relative numerical references.
- Tab. 1 Longitudinal fundamental scheme of the machine;
- Tab. 2 Version section with fifth pressing sector;
- Tab. 3 System of oleo-hydraulic push with two hollow boxes with alternate motion to accelerate the extraction of the juices.
The working process of the basic machine represented in the drawing in Table 1, starts in the first sector that receives the alimentation from the receiving station - discharge and crashing (pressing in the case of grapes) through the use of pumps or transporters. The first draining sector (1) is located in the upper part of the press and occupies its entire width (as all the following parallelepiped - rectangular sectors); its lower side is constituted by a rolling slit flat surface (9) (stainless steel, plastic or similar) on two rolls of which one operated by an engine. The upper part of the belt terminates in the upper opening of the second sector (10). During the course the juices that have been separated in the previous gathering - transport - discharge - crashing - pumping operations descend in the small container below (6a). The pulps enter in the second compensation sector (2), located vertically, still turgid with most part of the liquid and slowly descend thanks to gravity draining through the side walls specifically slit (5b). The rear wall is on the contrary open (11), perfectly coinciding with the same open space of the rear part of the upper part of the third sector.
The third squeezing sector (3) is fundamental in the pressing process in the new machine. The previous sectors have separated liquids already released from the bodies of the fruits and the other liquid materials coming from the easiest squeezable parts of the same fruits. In the third sector the most part of the juices, often the best ones, are squeezed. It has the same width of the other sectors whereas the length extends itself horizontally in the direction of forward motion of the flux of the product. Its walls: upper, lower and lateral are all slit (5c). The upper one has, in its rear part, an opening perfectly coinciding with the lower opening of the second sector (11). On the contrary, the rear and front sides are open where the last one coincides with the entrance to the forth sector (14) with which is tightly connected. The rear side (13) is open to let the passage and the entire course of a hollow box component for flat compression (15), the four sides of which have dimensions compatible to its operational passage. The hollow box component for flat compression lodges, in its internal space, an oleo- hydraulic piston (16) firmly fastened to the internal front side of the hollow box to which it transmits the pressure whereas its rear part is connected with its means of transmission from the oleo-hydraulic junction box (17) lodged in the apposite space - cabinet located, above, in the rear part of the machine. The front part of the contacting hollow box, for the push and compression of the product, it has cavity, properly slit (18), to collect itself as well during its advancing motion the produced juices. The advancement of the hollow box along the third sector produces: a) the forward motion of the pulps descended from the second sector to join them to the pulp panel already re-compacted more in front; b) the partial or total closing of the access (11) to stop or adjust the arrival of other portions. This action however does not discontinue the further accumulation and draining in the space of the second sector thanks to the continuous alimentation of the first; c) a soft flat pressure in the initial pushing phase, pressure that increases progressively in correspondence to the new pulps compacting themselves thanks to the previous pushes; d) at the maximum level of pressure (from 0 to 0,6 bar) the more advanced portion of the panel is pushed in the forth sector ; e) the hollow box in its returning course reset the pressure in the entire sector causing the flaking of the panel facilitating the exits of the juices released but hold back in the internal part of the panel by the pressure itself and let the leak thanks to gravity force; f) in the last part of the return course, it reopens the communication with the second sector and the descend due to gravity in the third one of a new dose of pulps, still sufficiently rich in liquid. It drains also thanks to gravity.
The necessary functions are programmed from the beginning, in accordance with the solidity of the fruit, to develop the operational cycle of the hollow box of oleo-hydraulic compression. Advancement and return, the variations in the speed, the possible phases of stop, inversion, restart and their related times, in each point of the short course take place automatically according to the variations in the pressure necessary to squeeze and its resets necessary to ease the evacuation of the juices. A complete cycle in the third chamber requires normally between 60 and 90 seconds. The rear open part of the forth sector (4) coincides firmly with the front one of the third sector (14), to which is horizontally lined up. It has the same width but it is longer. Its final part (19) is the exit of the exhausted panel that will be expelled via the evacuation system of the factory. In the forth sector takes place the final extraction of juices, by then of limited entity but however useful for the economic, and often for the technological, result. Its upper part consists of a solid flat element (20), with a cavity in its lower part (21) properly slit to receive the liquids going out from the upper part of the panel. On its external upper side is installed the mechanism for the transmission of the pneumatic pressure (22) connected to the factory appliance or, missing it, to a compressor of sucked in air placed in the cabinet of the same pres (23). This surface is hinged (24) to the rear part of the chamber letting him oscillating to maintain a constant pressure on the husk panel that is continuously subject to variation of its thickness due to the leak of the last liquids. The two lateral walls of this sector, except in the last part of the course (20-30 cm) are slit (5d) along their length. The lower flat surface of this sector on which the product arrives pushed by the pressure of the third one has three different areas, all of them filtering; the most internal one (25) is constituted by a slit surface, revolving on two rolls (in the two directions) of which one motorized. The medium zone has a fixed slit bottom part (26); the third zone is itself also composed by a revolving belt (27) on two rolls, in the two directions and with a engine roll. This last one, on automatic impulse, provide for the expulsion of the exhausted portion of the panel. All juices arriving from the forth sector reach the transit tanks (6a-6e). In the forth chamber two actions are performed. The first one produced by the inertial push of the oleo-hydraulic system (piston - hollow box) transmitted through the husk panel; the second one of containment, pneumatic, through the upper swinging flat surface. The reaching of the maximum pressure programmed for the expulsion of the exhausted panel at the desired level activates the belt (27) located at the exit of the press.
The upper flat element for containment and draining performs also the fundamental function of triggering the formation of the initial panel for the daily or multi daily working activity. Its all lowered front part (19b) closes completely the exit of the entire press. At the arrival of the initial product, rich of liquid, the machine operates as a big static drainer pushing forward the pulps to squeeze. Only when the chambers reached the normal working regime, the dry panel begins its formation and only when this last one is of the correct programmed thickness the machine raises progressively the end of the upper flat element that blocks the exit, starting the operational cycle. The same element, at the end of the working phase, opened to the maximum angle, allows a complete visibility and a partial practicability of all operating sectors in their ensemble. The course of the product from the entrance of the first sector to the expulsion of its dry parts takes place in 10- 15 minutes.
A version of the conceived press is useful for the squeezing of extremely compact fruits; it is completed by a fifth sector of hyper- pressing, shown in Tab.2, located, when necessary, in the front part of the machine and connected to the frame of the basic press. Of parallepipedal-rectangular form broad as the others.
In the operational function, it completes the working process while receiving the expelled panel, containing still some residual juices, that from the forth sector (19) enters due to gravity force in the fifth sector (35). A hooked roll (40), in neutral, facilitates the crumbling of the panel that, chopped, gathers itself in the lower part (35 a) equipped with a cavity slit on the forth sides (38abcd). The bottom (42), itself also equipped with a slit cavity, solidly made and hinged (39) on the frame of the press for the discharge.
A hollow box component for the flat compression occupies the upper part of the sector (36). It is pushed by pneumatic pressure (37) powered by the compressor present in the press or in the factory's appliance and it is synchronised with the movement of expulsion of the panel (19). The hollow box (36) begins its course quickly closing the input (35) and performing the pressing of its content in the slit part (35a) going back to the its starting position reopening the entrance (19). The maximum pressure in the moment of the recall causes the opening of the bottom side (39) and its automatic re-closing after the discharge of the dry panel.
Another version of the conceived press is foreseen for the squeezing of fruits with pulps initially very solid. As shown in Tab.3 it foresees, as means for oleo-hydraulic compression, two hollow boxes (51a, 51b) pushed by the respective pistons (52a, 52b) connected to the oleo-hydraulic junction box. The two pushing boxes execute, along their course in the third sector, a series of advancements and reversals acting simultaneously together or alternating themselves, in a limited space, to increase the phases of pushing and loosening of the panel in formation and facilitating the exit of liquids during the short continuous intervals of pressures applied. All this maintaining in the initial and returning phase the opening and closing action of the alimentation of the second sector.