Product preheating with heat pump

Abstract

A method for hot filling of liquids uses a flash pasteurizer including a first heat exchanger, a filling station and a cooling tunnel including a plurality of cooling cells. The liquids are filled into containers in the filling station. The filled containers are cooled in the cooling tunnel using a cooling liquid. The liquids are heated before being filled into the containers, by feeding thermal energy from the cooling liquid that was heated during the cooling of the filled containers to the flash pasteurizer using a separate heat pump.

1 . A method for hot filling of liquids using a flash pasteurizer including a first heat exchanger, a filling station and a cooling tunnel including a plurality of cooling cells, the method comprising:
 filling the liquids into containers in the filling station;   cooling the filled containers in the cooling tunnel using a cooling liquid;   heating the liquids before the filling of the liquids into the containers in the filling station, wherein thermal energy from the cooling liquid that was heated during the cooling of the filled containers is fed to the flash pasteurizer using a separate heat pump.   
     
     
         2 . The method recited in  claim 1 , wherein the liquids are juices. 
     
     
         3 . The method recited in  claim 1 , wherein the containers are bottles. 
     
     
         4 . The method recited in  claim 1 , wherein the cooling liquid is water. 
     
     
         5 . The method recited in  claim 1 , wherein the thermal energy fed from the heat pump to the liquids is transferred to the liquids using the first heat exchanger. 
     
     
         6 . The method recited in  claim 1 , wherein the heating the liquids is completely implemented by the thermal energy fed to the liquids using the heat pump. 
     
     
         7 . The method recited in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing a second heat exchanger in series with the heat pump;   passing the cooling liquid from the cooling tunnel through the second heat exchanger and then to the heat pump, the second heat exchanger heating the liquids before the filling of the liquids into the containers so as to initially transfer a part of the thermal energy of the heated cooling liquid and the heat pump transferring a further part of the thermal energy for further heating of the liquids.   
     
     
         8 . The method recited in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing a second heat exchanger in parallel with the heat pump;   passing a first part of the cooling liquid from the cooling tunnel to the second heat exchanger, the second heat exchanger heating the liquids before the filling of the liquids into the containers so as to transfer a part of the thermal energy of the heated cooling liquid; and   passing a second part of the cooling liquid from the cooling tunnel to the heat pump so as to transfer a further part of the thermal energy for further heating of the liquids.   
     
     
         9 . The method recited in  claim 8 , wherein a first portion of the heated cooling liquid that passes to the second heat exchanger is hotter than a second portion of the heated cooling liquid that passes to the heat pump. 
     
     
         10 . A device for hot filling of liquids, the device comprising:
 a flash pasteurizer including a first heat exchanger;   a filling station configured to fill containers with liquids;   a cooling tunnel including a plurality of cooling cells for cooling the filled containers; and   a separate heat pump for feeding thermal energy from the cooling liquid heated in the cooling tunnel to the liquids before the filling of the liquids into the containers.   
     
     
         11 . The device recited in  claim 10 , wherein the flash pasteurizer, the filling station and the cooling tunnel are separate. 
     
     
         12 . The device recited in  claim 10 , wherein the first heat exchanger includes one of a plate heat exchanger and a shell-and-tube heat exchanger. 
     
     
         13 . The device recited in  claim 10 , wherein the heat pump includes one of a compression heat pump, an ammonia heat pump or a heat pump with a transcritical CO 2  process. 
     
     
         14 . The device recited in  claim 10 , wherein the heat pump is disposed between a first of the plurality of cooling cells and the first heat exchanger. 
     
     
         15 . The device recited in  claim 14 , wherein the first of the plurality of cooling cells has a highest temperature of the heated cooling liquid. 
     
     
         16 . The device recited in  claim 10 , wherein the plurality of cooling cells are connected so as to provide pumping of cooling liquid from one cooling cell to at least one of a neighboring cooling cell. 
     
     
         17 . The device recited in  claim 10 , wherein each of the plurality of cooling cells includes a sprinkling system for spraying the containers with cooling liquid. 
     
     
         18 . The device recited in  claim 10 , further comprising a second heat exchanger in series with the heat pump, the second heat exchanger configured to receive the cooling liquid from the cooling tunnel and transfer thermal energy from the cooling liquid to the liquids before filling the liquids into the containers. 
     
     
         19 . The device recited in  claim 10 , further comprising a second heat exchanger in parallel with the heat pump, the second heat exchanger configured to receive a part of the cooling liquid from the cooling tunnel and transfer thermal energy from the cooling liquid to the liquids before filling the liquids into the containers.