Research into usage efficiency of the pulsation machine with a vibrating rotor for milk homogenization

Abstract

The modification of rotor-pulsation machine – pulsation machine with a vibrating rotor (PM with VR) has been researched in the work. Rotor in such modification not only rotates but also oscillates axially with the frequency about 3000 min-1 and amplitude 0,5–1,0 mm. The aim of this research was to define specific features of milk homogenization process in PM with VR and disperse characteristics of milk emulsion. Analytical researches resulted in finding dependence of milk emulsion acceleration as a main factor of milk fat particles breakup subject to the design and kinematic parameters of PM with VR. Experimental researches were carried out on the laboratory setup of the pulsation machine with a vibrating rotor which was designed by the authors. The subject of experimental researches is cow’s milk. The sizes of milk fat globules after homogenization were measured by the optical microscope equipped with a digital camera. The researches resulted in defining characteristics of milk emulsion dispersing in PM with VR. Thus acceleration grows when diameter, oscillation amplitude and rotation frequency of the rotor are increased, and channels length of the rotor and stator, the gap between them are decreased and the number of rotor openings is 4 or less. Empirical dependence between the average diameter of the fat globule (0,7–1,9 μm) and the average emulsion acceleration ((1–10)×103 m/s2) in the interrupter of PM with VR is defined which proves that the emulsion flow acceleration is the main cause of homogenization of PM with VR with 92 % confidence. High quality of the milk emulsion after processing in PM with VR has been proved. The crankshaft rotation frequencies up to 2880 rpm and rotor oscillation amplitude of 1 mm enable to receive milk emulsion with the average dispersion about 0,8 μm that corroborates using PM with VR in the industrial conditions for milk homogenization to be perspective.