Many modern industrial installations, which are designed to cook fish and meat in large volumes, work on the principle of electrostatic smoking. It has been tested for many decades and approved for use by strict sanitary rules and regulations. If you decide to make an electrostatic smokehouse with your own hands, you should know that it is a complex structure, supplemented by an electrical part.
The scheme is quite simple, and making it yourself is not at all difficult. A cold-smoked plant will be as efficient and workable as an industrial model, because fish will be cooked in just half an hour, and as for meat, it reaches readiness in such a plant in an hour.
Making an electrostatic smoker
Many home crafters make electrostatic smokers. With your own hands, you can also do thisinstallation. The design can be divided into 3 parts, among them:
- electric camera;
- smoke generator;
- high voltage field generator.
In order for the work to be completed in a short time, a metal box can be used as a case, usually its dimensions are 1x0, 6x0, 5 cm. If it is not possible to make the case yourself, then a wooden / metal cabinet can be adapted for this or refrigerator. The work on the manufacture of the case will take several hours, this is true even for those craftsmen who are not highly qualified as a carpenter. However, the case in such a device is not one of the important parts, because inside there is no high humidity and high temperatures.
It is imperative that the electrical components are well insulated and the case grounded. In order for the smokehouse to be convenient to use, it must be divided into 3 compartments. The smoking chamber will have the following dimensions: 45x45x50 cm. It must be placed in the upper part. This will allow you to hang food and control the process of their preparation.
Before you make an electrostatic smokehouse with your own hands, you must consider its design features. The lower part should be divided into 2 compartments, which will be approximately equal in size. A partition will act as a separation. One part will contain a smoke generator, while the other will contain electrical equipment.
Making a smoke generator
When making a smokehouse, you must take care of the presence of a source of smoke, which can be any smoke generator made by yourself. The most common glow-type units are those with a heating element or an ejector.
The electric element for the described smokehouse will be more suitable, because it has a compact size and allows you to get as much smoke as you need for cooking in a short time. After the current is turned off, the burning will stop. The smoking process in the electrostatic field lasts a short time, so the long-term generator is almost not needed.
Working on the chimney and filter
If you will be doing an electrostatic smokehouse with your own hands, then you must consider the location of the chimney. It will be in the upper part, and the smoke will flow into the smoking chamber in a natural way. This will be facilitated by convection currents, so a fan is not required. A removable filter must be installed along the smoke path, which must be of the labyrinth type. This will clear the tar from the smoke and cool the stream.
The filter works on a simple principle, which consists in the condensation of fractions on cold metal. The filter can be made from steel segments, which are pre-cut according to the parameters of the smoke channel. When a do-it-yourself electrostatic cold smoked smokehouse is made, it is important to take care ofuniform distribution of smoke in the chamber. To do this, it is necessary to place a diffuser above the chimney outlet, which will be a perforated plate. It should have a hemispherical section.
The generator will start 15 minutes before the start of the electrostatic field. During this time, the volume of the chamber will be filled with cold smoke, the volume of which will be sufficient for cooking. You only have to maintain the level while the plant is running.
How to create an electrostatic field
The most important condition of the described smokehouse will be the creation of an electrostatic field. To do this, three grids should be installed inside the chamber, one of which will be located in the center, while the other two will be on the sides. They should be connected to the cathode of the DC generator. It is important to isolate the grids well from the body, because the voltage generated will be 20,000 V.
Needle electrodes must be fixed or welded onto the grids. You can use any other contact method. To install them, it is recommended to use pointed pieces of wire, tin triangles or nails. They need to be distributed over the entire area of the nets.
When an electrostatic smokehouse is done by hand, the circuit must be prepared. It will allow you to understand that the connection of the anode to the hooks is carried out in the next step. The current generator circuit is not complicated, so you can pick it up yourself. The cost of individual nodeslow. You will be able to make a smokehouse, the price of which will be equal to a quarter of the cost of a new installation. In this case, cables, temperature sensors and switches are taken into account.
Working on a voltage generator, or Making a smokehouse from an ignition coil
The output wire of the generator must be connected to the hook while the other wire is connected to the high voltage chamber. If you want to make an electrostatic smokehouse from an ignition coil with your own hands, then it can form the basis of a generator. The coil can be borrowed from a motorcycle or car. An alternative solution is a horizontal TV transformer.
To generate voltage, you need to assemble a simple electronic circuit. It provides for the presence of an electric key from a transistor or relay. It is important to remember that the coil will create ultra-high voltage, which can be life-threatening. It depends on several parameters of the electronic circuit. Experts do not advise making it if you do not have the appropriate knowledge and skills.
Making a smokehouse from a TV
The described smokehouse will differ from the traditional one only in the presence of an electrical circuit. Electrostatic smoking is carried out at a voltage of up to 20 kV DC. If we are talking about industrial equipment that has high power, then it canbe designed for products up to 100 kg; special transformers are used in such units. But if you yourself decide to make an electrostatic smokehouse with your own hands from a TV scan, then an ordinary transformer from a household appliance will be enough. In addition, you should prepare:
- voltage multiplier;
- transistor;
- insulating rings;
- resistor;
- isolated network cable;
- metal mesh.
Features of making a smokehouse from a new TV
When it is planned to use a TDKS transformer borrowed from a new TV model that has a vacuum kinescope, the reducer is not needed here, since it is already built-in and produces direct current. There is no need to invent anything here, and the transformer is connected in the same way as on the TV board.
Assembling
Before you make an electrostatic smoker with your own hands, you must assemble a power supply based on a transistor and a limiting resistor. These two nodes are connected to the outputs of the transformer. The high voltage will be removed from the output stage. It is important to take care that the polarity is not reversed - when mounting the transformer, you should remember where the negative and positive terminals were connected.
If your smokehouse is designed to cook 10 kg of fish, poultry or meat, then high-voltage is also suitable for itgenerator. If you add it to equipment of a more impressive size, then although it will work, the smoking process will be quite lengthy.
If you decide to make your own cold-smoked electrostatic smokehouse, the drawings should help you with this. From them you can find out that among the components of the device are the following nodes:
- smoking chamber;
- high voltage unit;
- smoke generator;
- control unit.
Insulation
Products must be well insulated from the case if it is made of metal. For this, the fasteners for the rods are made of a dielectric. The most suitable option would be ebonite. This is true for metal bar pins. They can also be made from durable wood, the diameter of the stick should be approximately 1.5 cm.
In closing
When assembling an electrostatic generator for a smokehouse with your own hands, you must use ready-made circuits. Typically, the described installations for use at home are made at the rate of 10 kg of products per smoking session. With this amount, the high-voltage generator can handle it pretty quickly.
If the bookmark is carried out in a larger volume, then cooking will take more time. In addition to the generator, the installation will include a smoking section, a smoke generator and a voltage unit. Having examined the factory model, you can find a control unit there, it allows you to control the smoking process.
