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EP0221856A2 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

A method of pest controlling foods and a system for carrying out said method

Assignee: ISOLCELL ITALIA SpA
•
Filing: 1986-02-13
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2006-02-13
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Abstract

Abstract In order to pest control food such as f.e. beans and dried mushrooms there is provided in a gas tight food storage room an inert O₂ lacking atmosphere with O₂ between O and 5%, CO₂ between 1 and 20% and the ba­lance N₂. This atmosphere is maintained until mor­tality of the pest. The system for providing this at­mosphere includes essentially a generator, which can be a combustion chamber (1) associated to a catalytic chamber (2) (in the case of an open circuit system in which air is drawn from the atmosphere) or a catalytic chamber alone (in the case of a closed circuit system in which air is drawn from the food storage room itself) and a cooling tower (3). The system is generally provided also with an evapora­tor (5) and a condenser (6) to control the humidity of the inert atmosphere, and a heat exchanger (7) in which the combustion heat is utilized to heat the inert atmosphere at a temperature which speeds up the mortality of the pest.

Inventors

  • 👤 Dario Pruneri
  • 👤 Karl Zanon

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-03 09:38
CPC Classifications
A; A23; A23B; A23B7/00; A23B7/14; A23B7/144; A23B7/148; A23B9/00; A23B9/16; A23B9/18; A23B9/20

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 11
Claim 1
Independent Claim 65 words
A method of pest controlling foods, characterized in that it comprises the steps of providing an inert O₂ lacking atmosphere with O₂ between O and 5%, CO₂ between 1 and 20% and the balance N₂, exposing the food to said atmosphere in a gas tight food storage room, and maintaining said atmosphere in the food sto­rage room until the full mortality of the food pest.
Claim 2
Independent Claim 65 words
A method of pest controlling foods, characterized in that it comprises the steps of providing an inert O₂ lacking atmosphere with O₂ between O and 5%, CO₂ between 1 and 20% and the balance N₂, exposing the food to said atmosphere in a gas tight food storage room, and maintaining said atmosphere in the food sto­rage room until the full mortality of the food pest.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 29 words
A method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the inert atmosphere is heated to a temperature higher than the ambient temperature and is maintained to said temperature.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 96 words
A system for carrying out the method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it comprises an inert atmosphere generator having two inputs, the one connected to an air intake and the other to a combustion gas or other combustible intake, and a cooling tower also provided with two inputs, the one connected to the output of the inert atmosphere gene­rator and the other to a cooling water intake, and further provided with two outputs, the one connected to a gas tight food storage room and the other to a cooling water discharge.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 46 words
A system as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that the inert atmosphere generator comprises a com­bustion chamber provided with at least one burner hav­ing an input connected to the atmosphere and the other input connected to a conduit for supplying combustion gas or other combustible.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 29 words
A system as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that a catalytic chamber is interposed between the output of the combustion chamber and an input of the cooling tower.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 39 words
A system as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that the inert atmosphere generator consists of an oxygen converter comprising a catalytic chamber having an input connected to the food storage room and to a combustion gas supply conduit.
Claim 8
Independent Claim 43 words
A system as claimed in any of claims 3 to 6, cha­racterized in that an evaporator and a condenser be­ing part of a refrigeration plant are inserted in the conduit going from the output of the cooling tower to the food storage room.
Claim 9
Independent Claim 35 words
A system as claimed in any of claims 3 to 7, charac­terized in that a heat exchanger is inserted in the conduit going from the output of the cooling tower to the food storage room.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 35 words
A system as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that it comprises a main burner and a secondary burner to enable to burn, depending on the requirements, different quantities of air - combustion gas misture.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 63 words
A system as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that the inert atmosphere generator comprises one or two modulating valves which are connected between the air input B and an input of the cooling tower and are controlled by an analysis system, which valves, by changing the ratio between air and gas, keep constant the O₂ percentage at the output of the generator.

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