Aerodynamic study of an ejector in a modernized device for thermal vacuum extrusion of food products

Abstract

The present study is aimed at the modernization of a device for processing food wet materials using vacuum extrusion. It is proposed to modernize the device by adding an ejector, a chamber for preliminary and final dehydration. Steam is removed from the final dewatering chamber using a vacuum pump. An ejector installed after the vacuum pump allows steam to be removed from the pre-dehydration chamber. The Solidworks FlowSimulation package was used to build and simulate the ejector. The air flows inside the ejector were investigated to obtain data on the required performance of the vacuum pump and to display the distribution of air flows and pressures. The images of the pressure distribution inside the ejector and the pressure at the inlet to the low-pressure nozzle were obtained. A model of an ejector with an initial volumetric flow rate of 4 m3/h and 8 m3/h for an incoming high-pressure flow is considered. The results show that it is sufficient to use a vacuum pump with a capacity of 4m3/h to remove the generated steam. The modernization of the device increases the energy efficiency of the technology for processing plant raw materials and simplifies technological adjustments.