| 摘要 |
An apparatus for the heat treatment of a product, especially a food product such as a food product contained within a hermetically sealed container (11) or pouch of plastics or like material, for example for sterilisation, pasteurisation or cooking, which apparatus comprises: a heating unit (2) to bring product from ambient towards a heat treatment temperature and pressure; a retort unit (3) to apply a heat treatment to a product; and a cooling unit (5) to allow product to be brought down from heat treatment temperature and pressure towards ambient; wherein each unit (45) and retort (3) is selectably sealable from the others and from ambient conditions; and wherein the retort (3) comprises a retort chamber enclosing a volume incorporating a plurality of mounting means (30) orbitally mounted about a longitudinal axis of the chamber so that each mounting means (30) is movable at least between a first position whereat it is aligned with an outlet of the heating unit whereby product can be loaded into the mounting means, and a second position whereat it is aligned with an inlet to the cooling unit whereby product can be unloaded from the mounting means (30); one or more conveyors (40) to pass product through to the apparatus. |
