Diseño y simulación de una máquina lavadora de ganchos para una planta procesadora de aves

Abstract

The technical project entitled "Design and simulation of a hook washing machine for a poultry processing plant" had the purpose of developing a device that performs a cleaning of the poultry holding elements during their journey from the packing area to the gutting area of an industrial plant. The regulations that guided the hygienic design of the machine were: International Organization for Standardization (ISO), European Hygienic and Engineering Group (EHEDG) and Ecuadorian Institute of Standardization (INEN). Based on the recommendations of the regulations, alternative solutions were proposed for washing hooks and they were evaluated according to the weighted criteria method. The best alternative was a three-phase equipment: pre-wash, brushing and rinsing. The purpose of the prewash phase was to spray water with detergent. Next, the brushing phase was designated for rubbing plastic bristles on the hook surfaces. Lastly, the purpose of the rinse phase was to spray disinfectant water onto the hook. The PipeFlow Wizard software calculated flow and pressure drop parameters in the pre-wash and rinse phase piping. The phases were modeled using SolidWorks software. During the pre-wash and rinse, a simulation of the hydraulic networks was carried out using the PipeFlow Expert software. Critical system elements were examined with the SolidWorks Simulation plug-in to validate their performance. For the results, the percentage error between the calculations and the simulations was analyzed, where an error of 2.85% was determined for the pre-wash and 7.33% for the rinse. The conclusion of this work is that it was possible to design a validated hook washing machine through hydraulic and structural simulation. The study of steam as a disinfectant fluid in cleaning is recommended.