Waterless grease cooling system
A system for cooling grease without requiring water. The system utilizes metal balls that are systematically fed into a passageway containing grease at a certain temperature. The steel balls can be cooled to a set temperature before being introduced into the passageway and the grease. A certain amount of the cooled grease adheres to the periphery of the steel balls. The adhered grease is then removed by a ball wiper. A second embodiment of the invention utilizes cooled steel rods to cool grease in a grease chamber.
1 . A system for waterless cooling of grease, comprising:
a plurality of metal objects;
a passageway;
a feeder for feeding the metal objects into the passageway;
an auger in the passageway configured to move the metal objects and grease along the passageway;
a holding tank; and
a ball wiper;
wherein the plurality of metal objects are selectively introduced into the passageway;
wherein the plurality of metal objects are configured to cool the grease introduced into the passageway;
wherein the plurality of metal objects are configured to allow a portion of the cooled grease to adhere to a periphery of each of the plurality of metal objects as they move along the passageway;
wherein the auger is configured to move the metal objects to an end of the passageway where the metal objects are directed to the ball wiper and the cooled grease that is not adhered to the metal objects is directed to the holding tank; and
wherein the ball wiper is configured to separate the adhered grease from each of the plurality of metal objects.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the plurality of metal objects are made of steel.
3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the plurality of metal objects are steel balls.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the auger rotates in the passageway.
5 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a controller;
wherein the controller is configured to selectively drop the metal objects into the passageway at a predetermined rate.
6 . The system of claim 1 ,
wherein the separated grease is directed to the holding tank.
7 . The system of claim 3 wherein:
the auger has a flighting; and
the flighting makes contact with the periphery of the steel ball.
8 . The system of claim 6 , wherein:
the metal objects are directed to a location separate from the separated grease directed to the holding tank.