When the water jet, coming from a rotary jet head cleaning device, hits the tank wall, it generates a force of impact (N). After impact, the jet spreads out and creates a cleaning footprint with high wall sheer stress force (Pa). As the cleaning machine is rotating in a 3D motion, the footprint is "moving" around inside the tank in a predefined pattern and cleans the entire tank surface with high wall shear stress. The further away from the impact point the less wall shear stress (mechanical action) is achieved.
Traditional spray balls are static. This means the majority of the tank cleaning energy comes from water cascading down over the tank wall at low wall shear stress. This way of cleaning requires large amounts of time, water and energy in order to compensate for the poor cleaning performance.
One cleaning cycle might be sufficient
Because of the unique design of Alfa Laval Rotary Jet Head, the first - out of eight - cleaning cycles is hitting the tank wall at an evenly dense cleaning pattern throughout the entire tank surface. The distance between the footprint tracks is relatively wide, but if the product is easy to clean off (e.g. milk or syrup) it only requires little wall shear stress to be removed. This means the pre-rinse cleaning of the tank is done using only one cleaning cycle and you are saving time, water and energy.
One cleaning cycle typically takes 1-3 min. and now that the product is effectively removed from the tank wall, the jet will offset the second cleaning cycle and thereby minimizing the distances between the jets. More cleaning cycles are needed for products that are harder to clean.
Payback time
Compared to a static spray ball, the Alfa Laval Rotary Jet Head is a higher initial investment, but its low operating cost gives a short payback time - often less than one year.
About Alfa Laval
Alfa Laval is a leading global provider of specialized products and engineering solutions based on its key technologies of heat transfer, separation and fluid handling.
The company’s equipment, systems and services are dedicated to assisting customers in optimizing the performance of their processes. The solutions help them to heat, cool, separate and transport products in industries that produce food and beverages, chemicals and petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, starch, sugar and ethanol.
Alfa Laval’s products are also used in power plants, aboard ships, oil and gas exploration, in the mechanical engineering industry, in the mining industry and for wastewater treatment, as well as for comfort climate and refrigeration applications.
Alfa Laval’s worldwide organization works closely with customers in nearly 100 countries to help them stay ahead in the global arena.
Alfa Laval is listed on Nasdaq OMX, and, in 2015, posted annual sales of about SEK 39.7 billion (approx. 4.25 billion Euros). The company has about 17,500 employees.