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Vacuum Freeze Dryer: The "Space Fresh-keeping Master" for Aerospace Food
Views: 563 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2025-11-17 Origin: Site
Vacuum Freeze Dryer: The "Space Fresh-keeping Master" for Aerospace Food
In the field of aerospace food R&D and production, the Vacuum Freeze Dryer is a core equipment for creating food that meets the needs of the space environment. Through the "low-temperature deep freezing - vacuum sublimation" process, it first freezes aerospace food raw materials (such as instant rice, vegetables, and meat) to -50℃ to -60℃, turning the water in the cells into micron-sized ice crystals. Then, sublimation and dehydration are completed in an ultra-high vacuum environment below 5Pa, and finally freeze-dried aerospace food with a moisture content of less than 3% is obtained. This process can maximize the retention of food nutrition (vitamin retention rate reaches more than 85%), and at the same time achieve extreme light weight (weight reduced by 60%-70%) and long-term storage without preservatives, perfectly adapting to the core needs of space weightlessness, limited storage space and convenient rehydration.
Operating the Vacuum Freeze Dryer must follow the principle of "aerospace standards - precise process control". When processing instant staple foods (such as freeze-dried rice), the pre-freezing time is extended to 6-8 hours to ensure that the moisture in the starch structure is completely frozen; the sublimation stage adopts stepwise heating (increasing by 5℃ per hour, from -40℃ to 30℃) to avoid rice agglomeration; the temperature in the desorption stage is controlled at 55℃-65℃ to completely remove bound water and ensure soft and glutinous taste after rehydration. When processing aerospace meat products, they need to be sliced first (thickness 2-3mm) and vacuum pre-frozen, and the sublimation temperature is reduced to 25℃-35℃ to prevent muscle fiber breakage from affecting the taste. After each batch of production, a vacuum curve test must be carried out to ensure no breakpoints in the freeze-drying process.
Daily maintenance should focus on "vacuum system precision" and "hygienic maintenance". After each use, purge the freeze-drying chamber with sterile nitrogen for 30 minutes, then rinse the cold trap with high-pressure ultrapure water, and finally perform ultraviolet sterilization for 60 minutes; check the vacuum tightness of the cold trap coil every week, and use a helium mass spectrometer leak detector to detect the leak rate (required to be <1×10⁻¹⁰ Pa·m³/s); replace the vacuum pump oil and clean the oil mist separator every month to ensure the vacuum degree is stable below 5Pa; calibrate the temperature sensor every quarter, and control the error within ±0.5℃ to ensure the consistency of freeze-drying parameters for aerospace food. The equipment must pass regular GJB (National Military Standard) testing to ensure compliance with aerospace-grade production requirements.
Compared with traditional drying technology, freeze-dried aerospace food has the advantages of good rehydration (restoring to original state after soaking in cold water for 5-8 minutes), complete nutrition retention, and resistance to pressure and vibration (adapting to space transportation), with a shelf life of up to 3-5 years. With the development of the aerospace industry towards deep space exploration, the requirements for food light weight and nutrient density are higher. Vacuum Freeze Dryers with intelligent program control, multi-material adaptation and energy consumption optimization have become core equipment for aerospace food manufacturers to achieve standardized and high-quality supply of "space dining tables".
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