This invention relates to a process for operating an instal¬ lation for the heat treatment of a product liquid on the continuous flow principle, the product liquid being brought to the require temperature in an HT heat-exchanger by a heating medium, the treated and outgoing product liquid pre¬ heating the incoming untreated product liquid in counter- current in a regenerative heat-exchanger. The abbreviated term HT heat-exchanger denotes a heat-exchanger operative at the highest temperature.

A process of this kind is generally known and is frequently used, inter alia, for the sterilization of milk. During sti- rilization, milk must be heated for a specific period at a specific temperature in order to kill or inactivate bacteria which would cause spoilage. As the heating temperature rises, the heating time required decreases. The longer the heating period, the more effective sterilization, but there are limits to this since the chemical transformation processes involved

at elevated temperature result in undesirable quality changes in the milk if applied for too long.

Just as may be the case with other temperature/time treatment processes, the treatment in this case must also take place within limits defined by certain criteria. In the sterilization of milk, for example, there are two of these (see Fig. 1A), i.e. C. s the degree of sterilization and C„ = the chemical _ _ transformation occurring. The graph shown in Fig. 1A illus¬ trates the relationship between the temperature T and the treatment time _t. In the graph the point A shows the situation for a sterilization plant operating at full capacity and in which the equivalent temperature in combination with the treat¬ ment time is such that sterilization takes place adequately while the chemical transformations as yet remain below the respective applicable limit. If, however, the output of an installation falls to a fraction of the maximum output for which the installation is designed, the rate of flow of the product decreases as a result of this fall in output. This entails that the troughpυt time of the product to be treated increases in inverse proportion to the capacity decrease, as a result of which an unfavourable chemical transformation may occur, for example, see situation B in Fig. 1A. In such a case, although the criterion applicable to sterilization is still satisfied, the criterion applicable to chemical trans- formations is exceeded.

In practice a method has already been developed for controlling

the temperαture/time relationship. In this method heating takes place by the injection of steam, followed by flashing out at reduced pressure the steam condensed in the milk. The dis¬ advantage of this system, however, is the high energy consump- tion. Indirect heating of the liquid by means of steam in com¬ bination with regenerative heat exchange between the heated outgoing liquid and the cold incoming liquid offers great advantages from the energy aspect. However, this system has - - the disadvantage that if the output has to be reduced for some reason in an installation of a specific capacity, the residence time of the product liquid is increased in the same proportion as the liquid flow is reduced with respect to the maximum value (at the design capacity). When the output of the instal¬ lation decreases, the above-mentioned undesirable quality changes will then occur relatively quickly.

Obviously attempts will be made to operate a sterilization plant at or near the design output because in that case the optimum energy consumption is obtained with optimum product treatment. If, however, the output decreases temporarily, e.g. because the processing capacity temporarily decreases at the inlet or outlet ends, the product quality must not fall off as a result. A known step in connection with capacity reduction, is to divide the HT heat exchanger into a number of series- connected sections, of which one or more is/are inactivated, as considered from the milk inlet point. The section or sections disconnected fills/fill with condensate and no lon¬ ger participates/participate in the heat treatment.

Fig. IB is α graph showing the effect of this known step. The temperature/time relationship is shown in this graph for five different output situations. The part involved is the area of the zone I enclosed by the graph above the 100 C limit, because the time that the product is subjected to these temperatures is, as considered practically, the de¬ termining factor for the sterilization and chemical trans¬ formations. For the maximum design output of 100$, this area 1-100 is shown in cross-hatching and is such that the required degree of sterilization is obtained, on the one hand, while on the other hand undesirable chemical transformations are still below the acceptable level. On an output reduction of up to 80$, the temperature/time area increases to 1-80 (vide Fig. IB), so that the chemical transformations increase, but not to the extent such that it is necessary to disconnect a section from the HT heat exchanger. This disconnection is shown in the (arbitrarily chosen) graphs for an output re¬ duction of up to 50 , 33$ arid 25$. It will be clearly seen that the resulting reduction in the temperature/time areas is insufficient to return the areas 1-50, 1-33 and 1-23 to the required value 1-100 or the temporarily still admissable maximum value 1-80. The known step therefore does not provide sufficient opportunity of obtaining the admissible temperature/ time relationship in the event of a relatively considerable fall-off in output.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a process without the said shortcomings. To this end, according to the

invention, when the output of the product liquid decreases, a flow of cooling liquid is so passed through the regenerative heat-exchanger that the residence time of the product liquid in the HT zone and the temperatures occurring in these condi- tions result in a heat treatment approaching the optimum time/ temperature relationship at the maximum design output of the installation. This step is a relatively simple way of enabling the results of fluctuating outputs of product liquid to be controlled. The product quality can be maintained and fere is no need to discard any product. The return to the full capa¬ city condition also takes place without any difficulty.

In order to achieve the optimum heat exchange in the regene¬ rative heat-exchanger, the outgoing and incoming flows of ^product liquid are taken through the regenerative heat-exchanger in counter-current and the cooling liquid flow is conveyed in counter-current to one of the product liquid flows in the high-temperature part of said heat-exchanger, preferably, in counter-current to the incoming heating-up product liquid flow.

The invention also relates to an installation for using the above process, comprising a regenerative heat exchanger. Accor¬ ding to the invention, an installation of this kind is dis¬ tinguished in that at least a part of the regenerative heat- exchanger comprises an extra heat-exchanging surface contained in a cooling liquid conduit for withdrawing heat from the product liquid, said conduit containing a control means

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reacting to both the temperature of the product liquid in the conduit to the HT heat-exchanger and to the output of the product liquid for influencing the flow of cooling liquid.

The regenerative heat exchanger can in. principle be constructed in two ways each known per se. In the case of a regenerative tube heat-exchanger, a set of three concentric tubes can be used so that three channels are formed, the innermost or outer¬ most channel being used for the cooling-liquid and the adjacent channel preferably being used for the incoming heating-up product liquid. In a regenerative plate heat-exchanger, the plates are provided with an extra set of passage apertures for the passage of the cooling liquid.

^r The invention will be explained more in detail with reference to the drawing, which illustrates in highly diagrammatic form an installation (Fig. 2); some details thereof (Figs. 3 - 7) and graphs (Figs. 8 and 9).

The installation according to Fig. 2 is constructed in manner known per se from a reservoir 1 for the product to be treated, said reservoir being connected to a supply 2 and a transfer conduit 3. The latter conduit contains a pump 4 which conveys the product liquid for treatment to a regenerative heat-exchanger 5 consisting of two parts 6 and 7. Between the two parts 6 and 7 the conduit 3 leads to an ho ogenizer 8. After leaving part 7 of the regenerative heat-exchanger, conduit 3 leads to a heater or high-temperature (HT) heat-exchanger 9 inside which the

product liquid is subjected to the required heat treatment. From this HT heat-exchanger a discharge conduit 10 carries the treated product successively through the parts 7 and 6 of the regenerative heat-exchanger and then through a last heat- exchanger 11, and hereafter reaches a number of bottling stations 12. The output of the installation is so selected that there is a small surplus of product liquid with respect to the processing capacity of the stations 12. There will there¬ fore be a minimized return of product through a conduit 13 to the reservoir 1 via a back-pressure valve 14 and an outlet 15. So far the installation differs little, if at all, from the prior art devices.

An extra heat-exchanging surface 16 is disposed in part 7 -of the regenerative heat-exchanger 5. This surface is contained in a cooling liquid conduit 17 for withdrawing heat from the preheated product liquid to be fed to the HT heat exchanger. Conduit 17 contains a combined control means 18 for influencing the flow of cooling liquid. This control means reacts in de¬ pendence on the output and the temperature of the product liquid through the conduit sections 3, for which purpose at least one measuring element is disposed in the section 3 between the heat exchangers 5 and 9. This measuring element can deliver two signals to wit: temperature and output. The temperature and output can, however, also be measured by two elements 19 and 20 as shown in Fig. 2. The temperature signal in this case ori¬ ginates from the measuring element 19 in conduit 3 and the out¬ put signal from element 20. The latter is in this case an

adjusting means for the speed of revolution of the volumetric pump of the homogeπizer 8 in conduit 3, and the signal ori¬ ginating from this adjusting means is therefore proportional to the product liquid flow in the conduit 3. Adjusting means 20 can be adjusted manually or via a command originating from the bottling stations 12. The action of the control means 18 will be explained hereinafter with reference to Figs. 8 - 10.

Part 7 of the regenerative heat-exchanger 5 can be constructed as a set of three concentric tubes in which three channels 21, 22 and 23 are formed, see Figs. 3 and 4. Two adjacent channels 22 and 21 or 23 respectively are always connected in counter- current to the conduit 3 or 17 respectively, the innermost channel 21 or the outermost channel 23 being connected to the /-cooling liquid conduit 17. The preheated product liquid always flows through the intermediate channel 22 and is fed to the HT heat exchanger 9" to undergo the final heat treatment. The third channel 23 or 21 respectively is connected to the dis¬ charge conduit 10 coming from the HT heat-exchanger. These two connection possibilities I and II are shown in a table next to Fig. 4.

Using a plate heat-exchanger for part 7, the conventional plates (according to Fig. 5) are replaced by plates 24 according to Fig. 6, these plates having not only the conventional holes 25 but also an extra set of passage apertures 26 for connection to conduit 17. Fig. 7 finally is a highly diagrammatic illus¬ tration of the path of the three different liquids through a

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plate heat-exchanger constructed in this way.

As already stated hereinbefore, the cooling liquid from con¬ duit 17 is taken in counter-current to the preheated product liquid through part 7 of the regenerative heat-exchanger. This counter-current principle is shown graphically by broken lines in Fig. 8, the X-axis showing the length L of the flow channel while the y-axis shows the temperature T. The solid lines show the effect of the cooling liquid fed via conduit 17.

Fig. 9 graphically shows some situations of an imaginary in- stallation in which the product liquid output Qp is reduced to half or one-quarter of the maximum output Qpm and -th e cooling liquid flow Qk is adjusted to a number of values ^(0 - 0,10 and 0,90 respectively of the product liquid flow Qp). The dot-dash line shows the temperature/time relationship as it occurs at maximum capacity of the installation according to Fig. 2, and which is to be maintained at other capacities. It will be clearly seen that given the correct choice of the cooling liquid flow Qk, namely about 0,70 for a product liquid flow Qp of 0,50, and 0,90 for a product liquid flow of 0,25, the area I shown in Fig. 9 above the 100 C can be made sub¬ stantially equal to the (cross-hatched) temperature/time area associated with the full capacity for which the instal¬ lation is designed and at which no extra cooling is applied. Thus optimum treatment of the product at different capacities has been rendered possible by a cooling water control via means 18.

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The invention is described and explained hereinbefore with reference to a milk sterilizing plant. Obviously the inven¬ tion is not confined to this example, but can also be applied to similar installations for other products, in which the heat treatment must take place between narrow temperature and time limits.

It is observed that the reference numerals in the claims are _ not intended to restrict the scope thereof, but are only de¬ noted for clarification.