GEA Direct Sprayer DS 25 for cleaning the underside of agitator blades in tanks

GEA Direct Sprayer DS 25:
The ultimate sprayer for effortless and thorough cleaning of agitator blade undersides – your best choice for spotless results!

Plant operators have a range of highly specialized tank cleaning solutions to choose from when it comes to meeting ever demanding cleaning tasks and preventing product contamination from previous tank fillings. However, if the tank is equipped with rotating agitators, as in the preparation of dough or the mixing and storage of suspensions, cleaning the underside of the blades presents a particular challenge. A new, patent-protected direct sprayer from GEA tackles this issue, avoiding obstruction of the agitators.

The challenge of the spray shadow

Thorough cleaning of every internal surface of processing and storage tanks is essential to ensure the purity and safety of products, especially in the food, beverage, dairy, and pharma sectors. Effectively configured cleaning systems achieve this by applying sufficient mechanical force to every area of the tank’s interior to remove all residues with reduced heat and/or chemicals.¹ Depending on the type of product and the difficulty of cleaning, static spray balls, free rotating cleaners, slow rotating cleaners, orbital cleaners, or index cleaners may be used for this.²

However, even with the best of the available primary cleaning solutions, the undersides of installed agitator blades may remain in the spray shadow throughout the cleaning cycle. In these cases, an additional solution or procedure is required to clean all interior surfaces. Until recently, process operators had few options for this other than filling the tank with cleaning liquid up to the height of the agitators. But this method largely fails to utilize the benefit of mechanical force, requiring increased heat and/or stronger chemical cleaning agents to achieve the desired cleaning result, as illustrated by the dynamic Sinner’s circle.³

Getting out of the way of the agitators

Adding a separate sprayer to clean the agitators from below seems like a straightforward solution to address the spray shadow. However, the difficulty lies in placing this extra sprayer. The bottom area of the tank must be kept free of obstructions so as not to interfere with the moving agitators. The blades often extend close to the tank walls, leaving no room at all for protruding components.

Cleaning technologists at GEA have taken an uncompromising approach to solving this problem with the new GEA Direct Sprayer DS. This cleaner can be mounted flush with the tank wall, ensuring that no parts protrude into the agitators’ movement space. The specially designed nozzle is even slightly recessed.

The cleaner is pneumatically controlled and creates a moving spray jet that precisely targets the agitator surfaces from below. Pressure conditions and flow paths are engineered to produce a solid full-cone spray for maximum mechanical cleaning power, rather than merely a hollow cone or a two-dimensional fan.

Cleaning technology incorporating valve and automation expertise

In designing the innovative Direct Sprayer DS, GEA has been able to leverage its advantage of having a wide range of special flow technology solutions within its corporate umbrella.

A central component of the device is the valve actuator, developed from GEA VESTA® valve technology, that opens and closes the nozzle.⁴ An aseptic version is available for sensitive applications such as New Food production, dairy processing after UHT treatment, or pharma manufacturing. This variant features a robust stem diaphragm, adapted from GEA D-tec® valve concepts, which seals the moving valve stem against the atmosphere, thus preventing contaminants from entering the cleaning medium and the tank during actuation.

A GEA T.VIS® valve control top can be mounted to the valve body to synchronize cleaner operation with the plant’s digital process control network and with adjacent cleaning devices. The standardized control top converts the commands from the logic controller into pneumatic impulses and monitors correct execution.

Seals and other standard parts of the cleaner are adapted from the modular GEA VARIVENT® and GEA ECOVENT® series. Utilizing technologies from various developments within the same corporate group makes it easy to customize the Direct Sprayer DS for individual requirements. Modular design and assembly concepts also simplify the disassembly of the sprayer for periodic maintenance and facilitate the inventory and order management of necessary spare parts.

Special variants of the sprayer with material and design properties in accordance with stringent 3-A standards are being prepared to enhance worldwide usability in the dairy and food production sectors.

Critical Addition to Basic Tank Cleaning

Tank cleaners, usually invisible in everyday operations, can be called the “hidden champions” among the technical solutions that ensure the purity and safety of high-quality products. The new GEA Direct Sprayer DS serves as a suitable companion to any of the advanced primary solutions for tank cleaning that is ecologically and economically sustainable.

The introduction of this sprayer has garnered significant interest from manufacturers using agitators in their vessels and containers. The force and precision of its solid full-cone spray has been acclaimed as a highly innovative solution for “cleaning the tricky part” of the process.