Design of Pulsed Cleaning Systems

he cleaning of food processing equipment and machines is extremely important in hygienic and financial terms and provides further potential towards optimization. On one hand economic reasons demand cost reduction and increasing efficiency throughout the manufacturing chain. On the other hand legal regulation and consumer awareness of hygienic hazards in foods require high standards in cleaning operations, process monitoring, staff training and documentation. This conflict of objectives has become more and more the subject of scientific research to work out reliable and efficient tools to provide nutritious, hygienically sound food at a proper price tag. One prominent field of research are cleaning in place operations (CIP), being the automatic cleaning of closed process equipment for the manufacturing of liquid and viscous foods.

The objective of this project is the development of fluid mechanical and constructional design methods for implementation and balancing a resource-efficient pulsation cleaning systems. The previous project dealt with the qualitative determination of the suitability of pulsed flow to reduce the cleaning time and the development and verification of appropriate detection methods. In contrast, the present project focuses on the quantification of the savings potential, the determination of the processing limits and the development of industrially applicable design tools.

During the research project the following deliverables are aimed:

• Tests with pulsed flows on existing pilot plant with extended range of tube geometries and selected industry-related, complex geometries. In addition, the flow profiles are calculated by CFD simulations.
• Studies on the effective range in pipe systems on a close to industry standard prototype.
• Local calculation of flow and shear stress field by CFD simulations for the design of the process.
• Design and subsequent investigation of a hygienic and energy efficient pulsation cleaning system with industry-related geometry.
• Quantification of the savings potential of energy and the cleaning agent with a hygienic pulsation cleaning system.