Raw milk immediately after milking (at approximately 38°C, close to the cow's body temperature) is at a high risk for microbial growth. Every hour of delayed cooling can double the bacterial count, leading to not only a loss of flavor and nutrients but also rejection by buyers due to substandard quality, resulting in direct economic losses for dairy farms, milk stations, and dairy companies. Traditional cooling methods (such as ice water immersion and natural cooling) are either inefficient and inaccurate in temperature control, or energy-intensive and prone to contamination, making them unable to meet the core requirements of "freshness" and "stability" in modern dairy production.
The Milk Cooling Tank, with its core advantages of "rapid cooling + precise temperature control + safe storage," serves as a "preservation barrier" for raw milk from milking to processing. It can reduce the temperature of raw milk to the critical point of microbial reproduction (below 4°C) in a short period of time and store it at a constant temperature. This not only ensures the quality of the milk, but also reserves sufficient time for subsequent processing (such as pasteurization and cheese making). It is an "essential freshness-locking equipment" for ranches, milk stations, and small and medium-sized dairy factories.
I. How do milk cooling tanks achieve "Quickly Lock in Freshness + Safe Storage"?
The operating principle of a milk cooling tank is designed around the entire process of "cooling - temperature control - milk storage." Through the coordinated operation of modular components, it precisely matches the characteristics of raw milk, preventing local temperature differences, contamination, or nutrient loss during the cooling process. This process is divided into three core stages:
1. Milk Inflow Buffering: Gentle Reception to Prevent Shock and Spoilage
When raw milk is piped or manually injected into the cooling tank, buffering devices within the tank (such as deflectors and anti-splash nozzles) initially disperse the milk flow, preventing excessive contact with air caused by high-speed milk inflow and reducing the risk of oxidation and spoilage. Simultaneously, a pre-cooling layer within the tank (available on some models) initially reduces the milk temperature from 38°C to around 20°C, reducing the burden on the subsequent deep cooling process. This prevents the refrigeration system from frequently starting and stopping due to large temperature differences, thereby extending the life of the equipment.
2. Core Cooling: Reducing to a "Safe Temperature" within 30 Minutes
After initial pre-cooling, the milk enters the deep cooling stage, a critical step in preserving freshness. This process relies on the synergy of the "refrigeration system + heat exchange components + stirring device":
Refrigeration system: Utilizes compression refrigeration to rapidly generate low-temperature refrigerant;
Heat exchange components: A jacket layer on the inner wall of the tank or a built-in plate heat exchanger efficiently exchanges heat between the refrigerant and the milk. The low-temperature refrigerant circulates within the jacket, rapidly absorbing heat from the milk;
Stirring device: Continuously operating a low-speed stirring paddle ensures uniform flow of milk within the tank, preventing uneven cooling caused by partial sinking.
This combination allows milk to cool from 20°C to below 4°C within 30 minutes, directly reducing microbial growth by over 90%, thereby firmly locking in the freshness and nutrients of the raw milk.
3. Constant Temperature Storage: Continuous Temperature Control Extends Shelf Life
Once the milk temperature stabilizes at 4°C, the cooling tank automatically switches to constant temperature storage mode.
A temperature sensor inside the tank monitors the milk temperature in real time. If it exceeds 5°C, the refrigeration system automatically activates to bring the temperature back to 4°C. If it falls below 3°C, heating is activated to compensate, allowing for precise temperature control within ±0.5°C.
The tank's double-layer insulation effectively isolates the milk from external heat, reducing the frequency of refrigeration system activation and energy consumption even in high-temperature environments.
During storage, the agitator operates intermittently to prevent fat from rising and stratifying, ensuring consistent milk quality during subsequent processing.
II. Addressing Industry Pain Points: The Six Core Advantages of Milk Cooling Tanks
Each of these advantages precisely addresses the shortcomings of traditional cooling methods, creating value for users across four dimensions: cost reduction, quality improvement, compliance, and convenience:
1. Efficient Cooling: Seizing the "Microbial Growth Window"
Traditional ice-water immersion cooling takes 2-3 hours to cool milk to 4°C, while milk cooling tanks complete the process in just 30-45 minutes, significantly shortening the "high-risk period." For example, a 10-ton cooling tank can process three batches of raw milk daily. Compared to traditional methods, the loss rate due to spoilage per batch is reduced from 5% to less than 1%, saving over one ton of raw material waste annually.
2. Precise Temperature Control: Complies with national standards and avoids quality fluctuations.
Raw milk should be cooled to 0-4°C within two hours after milking. The milk cooling tank's temperature control error is ≤±0.5°C, ensuring the milk maintains an optimal storage temperature of 3-4°C. This prevents bacterial growth and flavor degradation caused by temperature fluctuations, ensuring the milk meets the quality standards of the buyer or its own processing facility.
3. Energy Saving and Consumption Reduction: Energy savings of over 30% compared to traditional cooling methods.
Inverter Design: The compressor and agitator motors of some models utilize inverter technology, automatically adjusting power based on milk temperature (e.g., requiring only 50% power during the constant temperature phase), avoiding energy waste from full-load operation.
Insulation and Energy Saving: The double-layer polyurethane insulation has a thermal conductivity as low as 0.024W/(m·K), minimizing the impact of external temperature fluctuations on the tank interior. The refrigeration system activates 60% less per day than traditional non-insulated tanks, resulting in annual energy savings of 2,000-5,000 kWh.
4. Safety and Compliance: Materials and Design Meet Regulatory Requirements
Food-Grade Materials: The tank's inner wall and agitator are constructed of 304 stainless steel, complying with GB 4806.9 food contact material standards. They contain no heavy metals and prevent milk contamination.
Traceability: Equipped with an intelligent control system, it automatically records the tanking time, cooling temperature, and storage time of each batch of milk, generating electronic reports that can be exported and easily accessed during regulatory inspections, eliminating compliance risks.
5. Easy Cleaning and Maintenance: Reduces labor and prevents cross-contamination.
CIP Compatibility: The tank's inner wall is mirror-polished, eliminating welded corners and allowing direct integration with the CIP Cleaning-in-Place (CIP) system. A spray ball inside the tank provides 360° flushing, completing the cleaning process in under an hour, eliminating the need for manual wiping.
Easy Maintenance: Core components are modular in design, allowing for individual replacement without disassembly. The device also features built-in fault alarms, reducing manual inspection costs.
6. Flexible Adaptability: From farms to factories, covering all scenarios
Milk cooling tanks can be customized for any scale:
Farms/milking stations: Choose from mobile or fixed models with capacities ranging from 500L to 5 tons, supporting manual feeding and suitable for distributed milking scenarios.
Small and medium-sized dairy plants: Choose from continuous milking models with capacities ranging from 10 to 20 tons, compatible with milking machine pipelines for seamless milking and cooling operations.
Special needs: Add-on heating (for preheating before pasteurization) and weighing modules are supported to meet diverse production needs.
III. Industry Adaptation Solutions for Milk Cooling Tanks
While the core needs of different users vary, milk cooling tanks offer targeted solutions, serving as a "guardian of raw milk quality":
Large-scale dairy farms: Through "continuous cooling + constant temperature storage," they can process dozens of tons of raw milk daily, avoiding price reductions caused by untimely cooling.
Small dairy stations: Mobile cooling tanks can be flexibly deployed to different milking locations, eliminating the need for fixed cooling plants and reducing initial investment costs.
Dairy factories: The constant temperature storage function of the cooling tanks can extend the shelf life of milk to 72 hours, providing buffer time for factories to adjust production plans and avoiding production interruptions caused by raw material deterioration.
In the increasingly competitive dairy industry, "freshness" has long become a core competitive advantage for product differentiation—and Weishu milk cooling tanks are the first line of defense in protecting this "freshness." It not only solves the pain points of traditional cooling methods such as low efficiency, high cost, and difficulty in compliance, but also lays a foundation for high-quality raw materials for subsequent processing links through precise temperature control and safe storage, helping companies take the initiative in "quality competition."
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