Production time is especially precious when more of it is needed to achieve production goals. Operators can increase evaporator production time by reviewing their evaporator start-ups, especially when frequent and lengthy vacuum pull cycles are needed.
Contact us if you are interested in a process assessment of your evaporator.
A high-volume vacuum pump paired with automation can easily add vacuum pulling capacity, leading to an increase in evaporator production time. The ROI could be very quick in some cases.
Evaporators operate at reduced pressure (vacuum) to lower the boiling point of the liquid being processed. This achieves lower processing temperatures, which are necessary to preserve heat-sensitive components, improve energy efficiency and enhance product quality. This is especially true when processing dairy, juice and other heat-sensitive products.
The time expended for pulling vacuum equates to lost production time. A new evaporator system is typically designed to achieve vacuum within 30-45 minutes, depending on the size and number of vacuum pumps that are installed. A number of factors can result in much longer vacuum pull times, including excessive vacuum leaks, hard water fouling, CIP carry-over, poor maintenance, or simple wear-and-tear with age. Any combination of these factors can be at play simultaneously.
Ideally, operators will not break vacuum and require a vacuum pull cycle except for a routine shutdown (approximately once per week). Small operations are an exception because production is only 1 or 2 shifts per day. In this case, a vacuum break occurs each day. Another exception includes evaporators that CIP without vacuum. In other cases, operators are required to break vacuum once a day in order to access internal areas of the evaporator. This also applies when a spot inspection is required by state inspectors.
Evaporator operators also know that vacuum leaks are their number one troubleshooting concern. The addition of a high-volume vacuum pump can be instrumental to supplement the existing vacuum pumps during acute vacuum leaks. This will buy time until the vacuum leak can be identified and repaired, which can often take a week or more.
Many operations would be able to increase evaporator production time with the addition of a high-volume vacuum pump to their evaporator. Contact us for an assessment and estimate. Call 410-822-6900 or send email to problem.solved@caloris.com to be connected with an engineer.
